A Genome-Wide Association Study Identifies Two Novel Susceptible Regions for Squamous Cell Carcinoma of the Head and Neck

Author(s)

Shete, Sanjay ^{[1, 2]} ; Liu, Hongliang ^{[3, 4]} ; Wang, Jian ^[1] ; Yu, Robert ^[1] ; Sturgis, Erich M. ^[5] ; Li, Guojun ^[5] ; Dahlstrom, Kristina R. ^[5] ; Liu, Zhensheng ^{[3, 4]} ; Amos, Christopher I. ^[6] ; Wei, Qingyi ^{[3, 4, 7, 8]}

Affiliation

^[1] Univ Texas MD Anderson Canc Ctr, Dept Biostat, Houston, TX 77030 - USA

^[2] Univ Texas MD Anderson Canc Ctr, Dept Epidemiol, Houston, TX 77030 - USA

^[3] Duke Univ, Sch Med, Dept Med, Durham, NC 27706 - USA

^[4] Duke Univ, Med Ctr, Duke Canc Inst, Durham, NC - USA

^[5] Univ Texas MD Anderson Canc Ctr, Dept Head & Neck Surg, Houston, TX 77030 - USA

^[6] Baylor Coll Med, Inst Clin & Translat Res, Houston, TX 77030 - USA

^[7] Duke Univ, Sch Med, Dept Populat Hlth Sci, Durham, NC 77030 USA.Shete, Sanjay, Univ Texas MD Anderson Canc Ctr, Dept Epidemiol, Houston, TX 77030 - USA

^[8] Duke Univ, Sch Med, Dept Populat Hlth Sci, Durham, NC 77030 - USA

• Document type: Journal article
• Source: Cancer Research; v. 80, n. 12, p. 2451-2460, JUN 15 2020.
• Web of Science Citations: 0

Abstract

To identify genetic variants for risk of squamous cell carcinoma of the head and neck (SCCHN), we conducted a two-phase genome-wide association study consisting of 7,858,089 SNPs in 2,171 cases and 4,493 controls of non-Hispanic white, of which, 434,839 typed and 7,423,250 imputed SNPs were used as the discovery. SNPs with P < 1 x 10(-3) were further validated in the OncoArray study of oral and pharynx cancer (5,205 cases and 3,232 controls of European ancestry) from databases of Genotypes and Phenotypes. Meta-analysis of the discovery and replication studies identified one novel locus 6p22.1 (P = 2.96 x 10(-9) for the leading rs259919) and two cancer susceptibility loci 6p21.32 (rs3135001, HLA-DQB1) and 6p21.33 (rs1265081, CCHCR1) associated with SCCHN risk. Further stratification by tumor site revealed four known cancer loci (5p15.33, 6p21.32, 6p21.33, and 2p23.1) associated with oral cavity cancer risk and oropharyngeal cancer risk, respectively. In addition, one novel locus 18q22.2 (P = 2.54 x 10(-9) for the leading SNP rs142021700) was identified for hypopharynx and larynx cancer risk. For SNPs in those reported or novel loci, we also performed functional annotations by bioinformatics prediction and expression quantitative trait loci analysis. Collectively, our identification of four reported loci (2p23.1, 5p15.33, 6p21.32, and 6p21.33) and two novel loci (6p22.1 and 18q22.2) for SCCHN risk highlight the importance of human leukocyte antigen loci for oropharyngeal cancer risk, suggesting that immunologic mechanisms are implicated in the etiology of this subset of SCCHN. Significance: Two novel risk loci for SCCHN in non-Hispanic white individuals highlight the importance of immunologicmechanism in the disease etiology. (AU)

• FAPESP's process: 04/12054-9 - Markers of aggressive behavior in head and neck tumors
• Grantee: Eloiza Helena Tajara da Silva
• Support Opportunities: Research Projects - Thematic Grants
• FAPESP's process: 10/51168-0 - Environmental, clinical, histopathological and molecular factors associated with development and prognosis of head and neck squamous cell carcinomas
• Grantee: Eloiza Helena Tajara da Silva
• Support Opportunities: Research Projects - Thematic Grants