Is lymphoma genetic?

Tough question: If you mean hereditary, there are a few families that have a high incidence of lymphomas. If you mean, are there changes in the dna in lymphoma - the answer is yes...Several types of lymphoma have distinct mutations that can be easily found in a biopsy specimen. Also, individual patient's tumor genes can be analyzed by a technique called micro-array which shows common patterns in survival.

Minimally heritable: Most non hodgkin lymphoma have a very small risk in first degree family members of the patient (children, parents, brothers and sisters). Some lymphomas such as chronic lymphocytic leukemia and waldenström's macroglobulinemia have a higher risk of occurring in family members.

Acquired mutations: Lymphoma, like all cancers, is a disease that results from an unlucky combination of gene mutations inside a single cell during your lifetime. Your body routinely repairs millions of spontaneous random mutations every day, and fortunately only a rare combination of these will cause cancer. Some are born with genes that make them more susceptible to certain cancers but this not so common.