Identification of a functional genetic variant at 16q12.1 for breast cancer risk: results from the Asia Breast Cancer Consortium.
Genetic factors play an important role in the etiology of breast cancer. We carried out a multi-stage genome-wide association (GWA) study in over 28,000 cases and controls recruited from 12 studies conducted in Asian and European American women to identify genetic susceptibility loci for breast cancer. After analyzing 684,457 SNPs in 2,073 cases and 2,084 controls in Chinese women, we evaluated 53 SNPs for fast-track replication in an independent set of 4,425 cases and 1,915 controls of Chinese origin. Four replicated SNPs were further investigated in an independent set of 6,173 cases and 6,340 controls from seven other studies conducted in Asian women. SNP rs4784227 was consistently associated with breast cancer risk across all studies with adjusted odds ratios (95% confidence intervals) of 1.25 (1.20-1.31) per allele (P = 3.2 x 10(-25)) in the pooled analysis of samples from all Asian samples. This SNP was also associated with breast cancer risk among European Americans (per allele OR = 1.19, 95% CI = 1.09-1.31, P = 1.3 x 10(-4), 2,797 cases and 2,662 controls). SNP rs4784227 is located at 16q12.1, a region identified previously for breast cancer risk among Europeans. The association of this SNP with breast cancer risk remained highly statistically significant in Asians after adjusting for previously-reported SNPs in this region. In vitro experiments using both luciferase reporter and electrophoretic mobility shift assays demonstrated functional significance of this SNP. These results provide strong evidence implicating rs4784227 as a functional causal variant for breast cancer in the locus 16q12.1 and demonstrate the utility of conducting genetic association studies in populations with different genetic architectures.
Long
Jirong
J
Division of Epidemiology, Department of Medicine, Vanderbilt Epidemiology Center, Vanderbilt-Ingram Cancer Center, Vanderbilt University School of Medicine, Nashville, Tennessee, United States of America.
Cai
Qiuyin
Q
Shu
Xiao-Ou
XO
Qu
Shimian
S
Li
Chun
C
Zheng
Ying
Y
Gu
Kai
K
Wang
Wenjing
W
Xiang
Yong-Bing
YB
Cheng
Jiarong
J
Chen
Kexin
K
Zhang
Lina
L
Zheng
Hong
H
Shen
Chen-Yang
CY
Huang
Chiun-Sheng
CS
Hou
Ming-Feng
MF
Shen
Hongbing
H
Hu
Zhibin
Z
Wang
Furu
F
Deming
Sandra L
SL
Kelley
Mark C
MC
Shrubsole
Martha J
MJ
Khoo
Ui Soon
US
Chan
Kelvin Y K
KY
Chan
Sum Yin
SY
Haiman
Christopher A
CA
Henderson
Brian E
BE
Le Marchand
Loic
L
Iwasaki
Motoki
M
Kasuga
Yoshio
Y
Tsugane
Shoichiro
S
Matsuo
Keitaro
K
Tajima
Kazuo
K
Iwata
Hiroji
H
Huang
Bo
B
Shi
Jiajun
J
Li
Guoliang
G
Wen
Wanqing
W
Gao
Yu-Tang
YT
Lu
Wei
W
Zheng
Wei
W
D044466:Asian People / Q000235:genetics*; D001943:Breast Neoplasms / Q000209:etiology / Q000235:genetics* / Q000473:pathology; D002460:Cell Line; D002885:Chromosomes, Human, Pair 16; D005260:Female; D055106:Genome-Wide Association Study; D006801:Humans; D009367:Neoplasm Staging; D016366:Open Reading Frames; D020641:Polymorphism, Single Nucleotide; D012307:Risk Factors