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Identification of genes associated with osteosarcoma using a genetic pathway approach [Meeting Abstract]

Mirabello, L; Berndt, S L; Burdett, L; Chowdhury, S; Teshome, K; Uzoka, A; Hutchinson, A; Douglass, C; Hayes, R B; Hoover, R N; Savage, S A
Osteosarcoma (OS) is a primary bone malignancy that typically occurs in adolescents and young adults. Epidemiologic studies suggest that OS is positively correlated with tall stature and high birth weight. It is common in hereditary retinoblastoma and Li-Fraumeni syndrome. A limited number of pilot studies suggest that single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in IGF2R, TP53, and VDR may also be associated with OS. Despite these findings, OS etiology is not well understood. Since it occurs during a period of rapid bone growth, genes important in growth and puberty are biologically plausible modifiers of OS risk. Genes in DNA repair and tumor suppressor pathways may also contribute to OS pathogenesis because of their function in critical cellular processes and known contributions to carcinogenesis. We evaluated these hypotheses in an OS association study of candidate genes from the following pathways: growth, hormones/hormone metabolism, bone formation, tumor suppressor, and DNA repair. The study consisted of 99 OS cases from the hospital-based prospective case-control U.S. Bone Disease and Injury Study of Osteosarcoma (BDISO). Controls (n=1430) included cancer-free individuals from BDISO (n=65) and the Prostate, Lung, Colorectal, and Ovarian screening trial (n=1365). All participants were whites from the continental US. We evaluated 4507 tag-SNPs across 282 candidate genes using a Custom Infinium BeadChip (iSelect). Logistic regression models were used to estimate the odds ratios (OR) and 95% confidence intervals (CI) for the association between OS risk and each SNP, adjusting for potential confounders, using PLINK. Bonferroni corrections (Padj, per gene) were conducted for correction of multiple statistical tests. Significant SNPs after correction with an additive model included 2 SNPs in Growth Hormone 1 (GH1) (OR 0.56, 95% CI 0.39-0.82, and OR 1.55, 95% CI 1.16-2.06, Padj <0.009), one SNP in FGFR3 (OR 1.47, 95% CI 1.1-1.97, Padj =0.016), IGFBP3 (OR 5.19, 95% CI 1.18-14.89,!
EMBASE:71453249
ISSN: 0008-5472
CID: 1031602

Association analyses of 249,796 individuals reveal 18 new loci associated with body mass index

Speliotes, Elizabeth K; Willer, Cristen J; Berndt, Sonja I; Monda, Keri L; Thorleifsson, Gudmar; Jackson, Anne U; Allen, Hana Lango; Lindgren, Cecilia M; Luan, Jian'an; Magi, Reedik; Randall, Joshua C; Vedantam, Sailaja; Winkler, Thomas W; Qi, Lu; Workalemahu, Tsegaselassie; Heid, Iris M; Steinthorsdottir, Valgerdur; Stringham, Heather M; Weedon, Michael N; Wheeler, Eleanor; Wood, Andrew R; Ferreira, Teresa; Weyant, Robert J; Segre, Ayellet V; Estrada, Karol; Liang, Liming; Nemesh, James; Park, Ju-Hyun; Gustafsson, Stefan; Kilpelainen, Tuomas O; Yang, Jian; Bouatia-Naji, Nabila; Esko, Tonu; Feitosa, Mary F; Kutalik, Zoltan; Mangino, Massimo; Raychaudhuri, Soumya; Scherag, Andre; Smith, Albert Vernon; Welch, Ryan; Zhao, Jing Hua; Aben, Katja K; Absher, Devin M; Amin, Najaf; Dixon, Anna L; Fisher, Eva; Glazer, Nicole L; Goddard, Michael E; Heard-Costa, Nancy L; Hoesel, Volker; Hottenga, Jouke-Jan; Johansson, Asa; Johnson, Toby; Ketkar, Shamika; Lamina, Claudia; Li, Shengxu; Moffatt, Miriam F; Myers, Richard H; Narisu, Narisu; Perry, John R B; Peters, Marjolein J; Preuss, Michael; Ripatti, Samuli; Rivadeneira, Fernando; Sandholt, Camilla; Scott, Laura J; Timpson, Nicholas J; Tyrer, Jonathan P; van Wingerden, Sophie; Watanabe, Richard M; White, Charles C; Wiklund, Fredrik; Barlassina, Christina; Chasman, Daniel I; Cooper, Matthew N; Jansson, John-Olov; Lawrence, Robert W; Pellikka, Niina; Prokopenko, Inga; Shi, Jianxin; Thiering, Elisabeth; Alavere, Helene; Alibrandi, Maria T S; Almgren, Peter; Arnold, Alice M; Aspelund, Thor; Atwood, Larry D; Balkau, Beverley; Balmforth, Anthony J; Bennett, Amanda J; Ben-Shlomo, Yoav; Bergman, Richard N; Bergmann, Sven; Biebermann, Heike; Blakemore, Alexandra I F; Boes, Tanja; Bonnycastle, Lori L; Bornstein, Stefan R; Brown, Morris J; Buchanan, Thomas A; Busonero, Fabio; Campbell, Harry; Cappuccio, Francesco P; Cavalcanti-Proenca, Christine; Chen, Yii-Der Ida; Chen, Chih-Mei; Chines, Peter S; Clarke, Robert; Coin, Lachlan; Connell, John; Day, Ian N M; den Heijer, Martin; Duan, Jubao; Ebrahim, Shah; Elliott, Paul; Elosua, Roberto; Eiriksdottir, Gudny; Erdos, Michael R; Eriksson, Johan G; Facheris, Maurizio F; Felix, Stephan B; Fischer-Posovszky, Pamela; Folsom, Aaron R; Friedrich, Nele; Freimer, Nelson B; Fu, Mao; Gaget, Stefan; Gejman, Pablo V; Geus, Eco J C; Gieger, Christian; Gjesing, Anette P; Goel, Anuj; Goyette, Philippe; Grallert, Harald; Grassler, Jurgen; Greenawalt, Danielle M; Groves, Christopher J; Gudnason, Vilmundur; Guiducci, Candace; Hartikainen, Anna-Liisa; Hassanali, Neelam; Hall, Alistair S; Havulinna, Aki S; Hayward, Caroline; Heath, Andrew C; Hengstenberg, Christian; Hicks, Andrew A; Hinney, Anke; Hofman, Albert; Homuth, Georg; Hui, Jennie; Igl, Wilmar; Iribarren, Carlos; Isomaa, Bo; Jacobs, Kevin B; Jarick, Ivonne; Jewell, Elizabeth; John, Ulrich; Jorgensen, Torben; Jousilahti, Pekka; Jula, Antti; Kaakinen, Marika; Kajantie, Eero; Kaplan, Lee M; Kathiresan, Sekar; Kettunen, Johannes; Kinnunen, Leena; Knowles, Joshua W; Kolcic, Ivana; Konig, Inke R; Koskinen, Seppo; Kovacs, Peter; Kuusisto, Johanna; Kraft, Peter; Kvaloy, Kirsti; Laitinen, Jaana; Lantieri, Olivier; Lanzani, Chiara; Launer, Lenore J; Lecoeur, Cecile; Lehtimaki, Terho; Lettre, Guillaume; Liu, Jianjun; Lokki, Marja-Liisa; Lorentzon, Mattias; Luben, Robert N; Ludwig, Barbara; Manunta, Paolo; Marek, Diana; Marre, Michel; Martin, Nicholas G; McArdle, Wendy L; McCarthy, Anne; McKnight, Barbara; Meitinger, Thomas; Melander, Olle; Meyre, David; Midthjell, Kristian; Montgomery, Grant W; Morken, Mario A; Morris, Andrew P; Mulic, Rosanda; Ngwa, Julius S; Nelis, Mari; Neville, Matt J; Nyholt, Dale R; O'Donnell, Christopher J; O'Rahilly, Stephen; Ong, Ken K; Oostra, Ben; Pare, Guillaume; Parker, Alex N; Perola, Markus; Pichler, Irene; Pietilainen, Kirsi H; Platou, Carl G P; Polasek, Ozren; Pouta, Anneli; Rafelt, Suzanne; Raitakari, Olli; Rayner, Nigel W; Ridderstrale, Martin; Rief, Winfried; Ruokonen, Aimo; Robertson, Neil R; Rzehak, Peter; Salomaa, Veikko; Sanders, Alan R; Sandhu, Manjinder S; Sanna, Serena; Saramies, Jouko; Savolainen, Markku J; Scherag, Susann; Schipf, Sabine; Schreiber, Stefan; Schunkert, Heribert; Silander, Kaisa; Sinisalo, Juha; Siscovick, David S; Smit, Jan H; Soranzo, Nicole; Sovio, Ulla; Stephens, Jonathan; Surakka, Ida; Swift, Amy J; Tammesoo, Mari-Liis; Tardif, Jean-Claude; Teder-Laving, Maris; Teslovich, Tanya M; Thompson, John R; Thomson, Brian; Tonjes, Anke; Tuomi, Tiinamaija; van Meurs, Joyce B J; van Ommen, Gert-Jan; Vatin, Vincent; Viikari, Jorma; Visvikis-Siest, Sophie; Vitart, Veronique; Vogel, Carla I G; Voight, Benjamin F; Waite, Lindsay L; Wallaschofski, Henri; Walters, G Bragi; Widen, Elisabeth; Wiegand, Susanna; Wild, Sarah H; Willemsen, Gonneke; Witte, Daniel R; Witteman, Jacqueline C; Xu, Jianfeng; Zhang, Qunyuan; Zgaga, Lina; Ziegler, Andreas; Zitting, Paavo; Beilby, John P; Farooqi, I Sadaf; Hebebrand, Johannes; Huikuri, Heikki V; James, Alan L; Kahonen, Mika; Levinson, Douglas F; Macciardi, Fabio; Nieminen, Markku S; Ohlsson, Claes; Palmer, Lyle J; Ridker, Paul M; Stumvoll, Michael; Beckmann, Jacques S; Boeing, Heiner; Boerwinkle, Eric; Boomsma, Dorret I; Caulfield, Mark J; Chanock, Stephen J; Collins, Francis S; Cupples, L Adrienne; Smith, George Davey; Erdmann, Jeanette; Froguel, Philippe; Gronberg, Henrik; Gyllensten, Ulf; Hall, Per; Hansen, Torben; Harris, Tamara B; Hattersley, Andrew T; Hayes, Richard B; Heinrich, Joachim; Hu, Frank B; Hveem, Kristian; Illig, Thomas; Jarvelin, Marjo-Riitta; Kaprio, Jaakko; Karpe, Fredrik; Khaw, Kay-Tee; Kiemeney, Lambertus A; Krude, Heiko; Laakso, Markku; Lawlor, Debbie A; Metspalu, Andres; Munroe, Patricia B; Ouwehand, Willem H; Pedersen, Oluf; Penninx, Brenda W; Peters, Annette; Pramstaller, Peter P; Quertermous, Thomas; Reinehr, Thomas; Rissanen, Aila; Rudan, Igor; Samani, Nilesh J; Schwarz, Peter E H; Shuldiner, Alan R; Spector, Timothy D; Tuomilehto, Jaakko; Uda, Manuela; Uitterlinden, Andre; Valle, Timo T; Wabitsch, Martin; Waeber, Gerard; Wareham, Nicholas J; Watkins, Hugh; Wilson, James F; Wright, Alan F; Zillikens, M Carola; Chatterjee, Nilanjan; McCarroll, Steven A; Purcell, Shaun; Schadt, Eric E; Visscher, Peter M; Assimes, Themistocles L; Borecki, Ingrid B; Deloukas, Panos; Fox, Caroline S; Groop, Leif C; Haritunians, Talin; Hunter, David J; Kaplan, Robert C; Mohlke, Karen L; O'Connell, Jeffrey R; Peltonen, Leena; Schlessinger, David; Strachan, David P; van Duijn, Cornelia M; Wichmann, H-Erich; Frayling, Timothy M; Thorsteinsdottir, Unnur; Abecasis, Goncalo R; Barroso, Ines; Boehnke, Michael; Stefansson, Kari; North, Kari E; McCarthy, Mark I; Hirschhorn, Joel N; Ingelsson, Erik; Loos, Ruth J F
Obesity is globally prevalent and highly heritable, but its underlying genetic factors remain largely elusive. To identify genetic loci for obesity susceptibility, we examined associations between body mass index and approximately 2.8 million SNPs in up to 123,865 individuals with targeted follow up of 42 SNPs in up to 125,931 additional individuals. We confirmed 14 known obesity susceptibility loci and identified 18 new loci associated with body mass index (P < 5 x 10), one of which includes a copy number variant near GPRC5B. Some loci (at MC4R, POMC, SH2B1 and BDNF) map near key hypothalamic regulators of energy balance, and one of these loci is near GIPR, an incretin receptor. Furthermore, genes in other newly associated loci may provide new insights into human body weight regulation.
PMCID:3014648
PMID: 20935630
ISSN: 1061-4036
CID: 155997

Xenobiotic metabolizing genes, meat-related exposures, and risk of advanced colorectal adenoma

Ferrucci, Leah M; Cross, Amanda J; Gunter, Marc J; Ahn, Jiyoung; Mayne, Susan T; Ma, Xiaomei; Chanock, Stephen J; Yeager, Meredith; Graubard, Barry I; Berndt, Sonja I; Huang, Wen-Yi; Hayes, Richard B; Sinha, Rashmi
PMCID:3051350
PMID: 20436251
ISSN: 1662-3975
CID: 139025

A comprehensive resequence analysis of the KLK15-KLK3-KLK2 locus on chromosome 19q13.33

Parikh, Hemang; Deng, Zuoming; Yeager, Meredith; Boland, Joseph; Matthews, Casey; Jia, Jinping; Collins, Irene; White, Ariel; Burdett, Laura; Hutchinson, Amy; Qi, Liqun; Bacior, Jennifer A; Lonsberry, Victor; Rodesch, Matthew J; Jeddeloh, Jeffrey A; Albert, Thomas J; Halvensleben, Heather A; Harkins, Timothy T; Ahn, Jiyoung; Berndt, Sonja I; Chatterjee, Nilanjan; Hoover, Robert; Thomas, Gilles; Hunter, David J; Hayes, Richard B; Chanock, Stephen J; Amundadottir, Laufey
Single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in the KLK3 gene on chromosome 19q13.33 are associated with serum prostate-specific antigen (PSA) levels. Recent genome wide association studies of prostate cancer have yielded conflicting results for association of the same SNPs with prostate cancer risk. Since the KLK3 gene encodes the PSA protein that forms the basis for a widely used screening test for prostate cancer, it is critical to fully characterize genetic variation in this region and assess its relationship with the risk of prostate cancer. We have conducted a next-generation sequence analysis in 78 individuals of European ancestry to characterize common (minor allele frequency, MAF >1%) genetic variation in a 56 kb region on chromosome 19q13.33 centered on the KLK3 gene (chr19:56,019,829-56,076,043 bps). We identified 555 polymorphic loci in the process including 116 novel SNPs and 182 novel insertion/deletion polymorphisms (indels). Based on tagging analysis, 144 loci are necessary to tag the region at an r (2) threshold of 0.8 and MAF of 1% or higher, while 86 loci are required to tag the region at an r (2) threshold of 0.8 and MAF >5%. Our sequence data augments coverage by 35 and 78% as compared to variants in dbSNP and HapMap, respectively. We observed six non-synonymous amino acid or frame shift changes in the KLK3 gene and three changes in each of the neighboring genes, KLK15 and KLK2. Our study has generated a detailed map of common genetic variation in the genomic region surrounding the KLK3 gene, which should be useful for fine-mapping the association signal as well as determining the contribution of this locus to prostate cancer risk and/or regulation of PSA expression
PMCID:2793378
PMID: 19823874
ISSN: 1432-1203
CID: 103373

A comprehensive analysis of common IGF1, IGFBP1 and IGFBP3 genetic variation with prospective IGF-I and IGFBP-3 blood levels and prostate cancer risk among Caucasians

Schumacher, Fredrick R; Cheng, Iona; Freedman, Matthew L; Mucci, Lorelei; Allen, Naomi E; Pollak, Michael N; Hayes, Richard B; Stram, Daniel O; Canzian, Federico; Henderson, Brian E; Hunter, David J; Virtamo, Jarmo; Manjer, Jonas; Gaziano, J Michael; Kolonel, Laurence N; Tjonneland, Anne; Albanes, Demetrius; Calle, Eugenia E; Giovannucci, Edward; Crawford, E David; Haiman, Christopher A; Kraft, Peter; Willett, Walter C; Thun, Michael J; Le Marchand, Loic; Kaaks, Rudolf; Feigelson, Heather Spencer; Bueno-de-Mesquita, H Bas; Palli, Domenico; Riboli, Elio; Lund, Eiliv; Amiano, Pilar; Andriole, Gerald; Dunning, Alison M; Trichopoulos, Dimitrios; Stampfer, Meir J; Key, Timothy J; Ma, Jing
The insulin-like growth factor (IGF) pathway has been implicated in prostate development and carcinogenesis. We conducted a comprehensive analysis, utilizing a resequencing and tagging single-nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) approach, between common genetic variation in the IGF1, IGF binding protein (BP) 1, and IGFBP3 genes with IGF-I and IGFBP-3 blood levels, and prostate cancer (PCa) risk, among Caucasians in the NCI Breast and Prostate Cancer Cohort Consortium. We genotyped 14 IGF1 SNPs and 16 IGFBP1/IGFBP3 SNPs to capture common [minor allele frequency (MAF) >or= 5%] variation among Caucasians. For each SNP, we assessed the geometric mean difference in IGF blood levels (N = 5684) across genotypes and the association with PCa risk (6012 PCa cases/6641 controls). We present two-sided statistical tests and correct for multiple comparisons. A non-synonymous IGFBP3 SNP in exon 1, rs2854746 (Gly32Ala), was associated with IGFBP-3 blood levels (P(adj) = 8.8 x 10(-43)) after adjusting for the previously established IGFBP3 promoter polymorphism A-202C (rs2854744); IGFBP-3 blood levels were 6.3% higher for each minor allele. For IGF1 SNP rs4764695, the risk estimates among heterozygotes was 1.01 (99% CI: 0.90-1.14) and 1.20 (99% CI: 1.06-1.37) for variant homozygotes with overall PCa risk. The corrected allelic P-value was 8.7 x 10(-3). IGF-I levels were significantly associated with PCa risk (P(trend) = 0.02) with a 21% increase of PCa risk when compared with the highest quartile to the lowest quartile. We have identified SNPs significantly associated with IGFBP-3 blood levels, but none of these alter PCa risk; however, a novel IGF1 SNP, not associated with IGF-I blood levels, shows preliminary evidence for association with PCa risk among Caucasians
PMCID:2901143
PMID: 20484221
ISSN: 1460-2083
CID: 139026

A large study of androgen receptor germline variants and their relation to sex hormone levels and prostate cancer risk. Results from the National Cancer Institute Breast and Prostate Cancer Cohort Consortium

Lindstrom, Sara; Ma, Jing; Altshuler, David; Giovannucci, Edward; Riboli, Elio; Albanes, Demetrius; Allen, Naomi E; Berndt, Sonja I; Boeing, Heiner; Bueno-de-Mesquita, H Bas; Chanock, Stephen J; Dunning, Alison M; Feigelson, Heather Spencer; Gaziano, J Michael; Haiman, Christopher A; Hayes, Richard B; Henderson, Brian E; Hunter, David J; Kaaks, Rudolf; Kolonel, Laurence N; Le Marchand, Loic; Martinez, Carmen; Overvad, Kim; Siddiq, Afshan; Stampfer, Meir; Stattin, Par; Stram, Daniel O; Thun, Michael J; Trichopoulos, Dimitrios; Tumino, Rosario; Virtamo, Jarmo; Weinstein, Stephanie J; Yeager, Meredith; Kraft, Peter; Freedman, Matthew L
BACKGROUND: Androgens are key regulators of prostate gland maintenance and prostate cancer growth, and androgen deprivation therapy has been the mainstay of treatment for advanced prostate cancer for many years. A long-standing hypothesis has been that inherited variation in the androgen receptor (AR) gene plays a role in prostate cancer initiation. However, studies to date have been inconclusive and often suffered from small sample sizes. OBJECTIVE AND METHODS: We investigated the association of AR sequence variants with circulating sex hormone levels and prostate cancer risk in 6058 prostate cancer cases and 6725 controls of Caucasian origin within the Breast and Prostate Cancer Cohort Consortium. We genotyped a highly polymorphic CAG microsatellite in exon 1 and six haplotype tagging single nucleotide polymorphisms and tested each genetic variant for association with prostate cancer risk and with sex steroid levels. RESULTS: We observed no association between AR genetic variants and prostate cancer risk. However, there was a strong association between longer CAG repeats and higher levels of testosterone (P = 4.73 x 10(-5)) and estradiol (P = 0.0002), although the amount of variance explained was small (0.4 and 0.7%, respectively). CONCLUSIONS: This study is the largest to date investigating AR sequence variants, sex steroid levels, and prostate cancer risk. Although we observed no association between AR sequence variants and prostate cancer risk, our results support earlier findings of a relation between the number of CAG repeats and circulating levels of testosterone and estradiol
PMCID:2936075
PMID: 20534771
ISSN: 1945-7197
CID: 134359

Sexual behaviours and the risk of head and neck cancers: a pooled analysis in the International Head and Neck Cancer Epidemiology (INHANCE) consortium

Heck, Julia E; Berthiller, Julien; Vaccarella, Salvatore; Winn, Deborah M; Smith, Elaine M; Shan'gina, Oxana; Schwartz, Stephen M; Purdue, Mark P; Pilarska, Agnieszka; Eluf-Neto, Jose; Menezes, Ana; McClean, Michael D; Matos, Elena; Koifman, Sergio; Kelsey, Karl T; Herrero, Rolando; Hayes, Richard B; Franceschi, Silvia; Wunsch-Filho, Victor; Fernandez, Leticia; Daudt, Alexander W; Curado, Maria Paula; Chen, Chu; Castellsague, Xavier; Ferro, Gilles; Brennan, Paul; Boffetta, Paolo; Hashibe, Mia
BACKGROUND: Sexual contact may be the means by which head and neck cancer patients are exposed to human papillomavirus (HPV). METHODS: We undertook a pooled analysis of four population-based and four hospital-based case-control studies from the International Head and Neck Cancer Epidemiology (INHANCE) consortium, with participants from Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Canada, Cuba, India, Italy, Spain, Poland, Puerto Rico, Russia and the USA. The study included 5642 head and neck cancer cases and 6069 controls. We calculated odds ratios (ORs) of associations between cancer and specific sexual behaviours, including practice of oral sex, number of lifetime sexual partners and oral sex partners, age at sexual debut, a history of same-sex contact and a history of oral-anal contact. Findings were stratified by sex and disease subsite. RESULTS: Cancer of the oropharynx was associated with having a history of six or more lifetime sexual partners [OR = 1.25, 95% confidence interval (CI) 1.01, 1.54] and four or more lifetime oral sex partners (OR = 2.25, 95% CI 1.42, 3.58). Cancer of the tonsil was associated with four or more lifetime oral sex partners (OR = 3.36, 95 % CI 1.32, 8.53), and, among men, with ever having oral sex (OR = 1.59, 95% CI 1.09, 2.33) and with an earlier age at sexual debut (OR = 2.36, 95% CI 1.37, 5.05). Cancer of the base of the tongue was associated with ever having oral sex among women (OR = 4.32, 95% CI 1.06, 17.6), having two sexual partners in comparison with only one (OR = 2.02, 95% CI 1.19, 3.46) and, among men, with a history of same-sex sexual contact (OR = 8.89, 95% CI 2.14, 36.8). CONCLUSIONS: Sexual behaviours are associated with cancer risk at the head and neck cancer subsites that have previously been associated with HPV infection
PMCID:2817092
PMID: 20022926
ISSN: 1464-3685
CID: 134987

Re: Mortality From Lymphohematopoietic Malignancies and Brain Cancer Among Embalmers Exposed to Formaldehyde Response [Letter]

Hauptmann, M.; Stewart, P. A.; Lubin, J. H.; Freeman, L. E. Beane; Hornung, R. W.; Herrick, R. F.; Hoover, R. N.; Fraumeni, J. F., Jr.; Blair, A.; Hayes, R. B.
ISI:000282751400015
ISSN: 0027-8874
CID: 114011

The association of telomere length and genetic variation in telomere biology genes

Mirabello, Lisa; Yu, Kai; Kraft, Peter; De Vivo, Immaculata; Hunter, David J; Prescott, Jennifer; Wong, Jason Y Y; Chatterjee, Nilanjan; Hayes, Richard B; Savage, Sharon A
Telomeres cap chromosome ends and are critical for genomic stability. Many telomere-associated proteins are important for telomere length maintenance. Recent genome-wide association studies (GWAS) have identified single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in genes encoding telomere-associated proteins (RTEL1 and TERT-CLPTM1) as markers of cancer risk. We conducted an association study of telomere length and 743 SNPs in 43 telomere biology genes. Telomere length in peripheral blood DNA was determined by Q-PCR in 3,646 participants from the Prostate, Lung, Colorectal, and Ovarian Cancer Screening Trial and Nurses' Health Study. We investigated associations by SNP, gene, and pathway (functional group). We found no associations between telomere length and SNPs in TERT-CLPTM1L or RTEL1. Telomere length was not significantly associated with specific functional groups. Thirteen SNPs from four genes (MEN1, MRE11A, RECQL5, and TNKS) were significantly associated with telomere length. The strongest findings were in MEN1 (gene-based P=0.006), menin, which associates with the telomerase promoter and may negatively regulate telomerase. This large association study did not find strong associations with telomere length. The combination of limited diversity and evolutionary conservation suggest that these genes may be under selective pressure. More work is needed to explore the role of genetic variants in telomere length regulation
PMCID:2932868
PMID: 20597107
ISSN: 1098-1004
CID: 134415

Sequence variants in the TLR4 and TLR6-1-10 genes and prostate cancer risk. Results based on pooled analysis from three independent studies

Lindstrom, Sara; Hunter, David J; Gronberg, Henrik; Stattin, Par; Wiklund, Fredrik; Xu, Jianfeng; Chanock, Stephen J; Hayes, Richard; Kraft, Peter
BACKGROUND: Genetic variation in two members of the Toll-like receptor family, TLR4 and the gene cluster TLR6-1-10, has been implicated in prostate cancer in several studies but the associated alleles have not been consistent across reports. METHODS: We did a pooled analysis combining genotype data from three case-control studies, Cancer of the Prostate in Sweden, the Health Professionals Follow-up Study, and the Prostate, Lung, Colon and Ovarian Cancer Screening Trial, with data from 3,101 prostate cancer cases and 2,523 controls. We did imputation to obtain dense coverage of the genes and comparable genotype data for all cohorts. In total, 58 single nucleotide polymorphisms in TLR4 and 96 single nucleotide polymorphisms in TLR6-1-10 were genotyped or imputed and analyzed in the entire data set. We did a cohort-specific analysis as well as meta-analysis and pooled analysis. We also evaluated whether the analyses differed by age or disease severity. RESULTS: We observed no overall association between genetic variation at the TLR4 and TLR6-1-10 loci and risk of prostate cancer. CONCLUSIONS: Common germ line genetic variation in TLR4 and TLR6-1-10 did not seem to have a strong association with risk of prostate cancer. IMPACT: This study suggests that earlier associations between prostate cancer risk and TLR4 and TLR6-1-10 sequence variants were chance findings. To definitely assess the causal relationship between TLR sequence variants and prostate cancer risk, very large sample sizes are needed
PMCID:2837532
PMID: 20200442
ISSN: 1538-7755
CID: 139023