Ever considered sperm donation or to conceive through this process? If yes, then this news could concern you.While it is true that sperm health and the person who is donating matters, however, sometimes it can go unchecked. The consequence could be life threatening. In another news, a man whose sperm was used to conceive at least 67 children is found to be carrying a rare cancer causing mutation. Of the children, 10 of them were diagnosed with cancer. This has raised concerns about the lack of internationally agreed limits on the use of donor sperm.How Was This Discovered?The Guardian reports that two of the children's families reach out to their respective fertility clinics after their kids were diagnosed with cancer. This is when the sperm was linked to a rare genetic mutation. This case was also presented by Dr Edwige Kasper, a French biologist at the European Society of Human Genetics conference in Milan.The European Sperm Bank confirmed that the rare variant which Kasper's lab concluded was likely to be Li-Fraumeni syndrome. This was also found in the supplied sperm. The syndrome is an inherited predisposition to cancer, and it has been found in more than two children.What Is Li-Fraumeni Syndrome (LFS)?It is a cancer predisposition syndrome associated with high risks for a broad spectrum of cancers including early-onset cancers. Five cancers types account for the majority of the LFS tumors: adrenocortical carcinomas, breast cancer, central nervous system tumors, ostesarcomas, and soft-tissue sarcomas. Other cancers associated with LFS are leukemia, colorectal cancer, stomach cancer, lung cancer, melanoma, pediatric head and neck cancers, pancreatic cancer, and prostate cancer.This was named after two American physicians, Frederick Pel Li and Joseph F Fraumeni Jr., who first recognized this syndrome after reviewing the medical records and death certificates of childhood rhabdomyosarcoma patients.This mutation is caused by germline mutations in the TP53 tumor suppressor gene, also mentioned in Germline TP53 mutations and Li-Fraumeni syndrome study. This encodes a transcription factor (p53) that normally regulates cell cycle and prevents genomic mutations. The variants can be inherited, or can arise from mutations early in embryogenesis, or in one of the parent's germ cells.The Impact Of Rare Cancer GeneA spokesperson of the company, Juli Paulli Budtz, told The Guardian that the company is “deeply affected by this case.”Budtz also said that “it is simply not possible to detect disease-causing mutations in a person’s gene pool if you don’t know what you’re looking for,” indicating that prior testing may or may not detect this rare genetic mutation in the sperm donor.Another detail revealed in The Guardian noted that the time of donation was 2008, when cancer was not linked to the genetic mutation. Thus despite any test, it wouldn’t have been possible to know whether the sperm could have been a cancer career. The Guardian also reported that the outlet also said that the donor is in good health.