Search Results - EGA European Genome-phenome Archive

Sequence Analysis of Mutations and Translocations Across Breast Cancer Subtypes

This study combined whole exome (103 samples) and whole genome (22 samples) sequencing over a total of 108 breast tumors and matched normal DNA to identify novel mutations and translocations. Samples were subjected to paired-end Illumina sequencing with goal of 30x coverage of tumor/normal for whole genomes and 100x tumor/normal coverage for whole exomes. From these sequences, we used various computational techniques to identify somatic point mutations, insertion/deletions and structural rearrangements in these tumors. From these data, we identified new insights into the rates of background mutations in these cancers, novel recurrent mutated genes, and multiple gene rearrangements. One of these rearrangements appears to be a recurrent event in breast cancer.

Study phs000369

The Mutational Landscape of Head and Neck Squamous Cell Carcinoma

This study was the first-known large-scale effort to uncover the mutational spectrum of head and neck cancers. We analyzed whole-exome sequence from 92 tumor-normal pairs and retained 74 of them for significance analysis. The majority exhibited a mutational profile consistent with tobacco exposure; human papilloma virus sequence was detectable in 15% of cases. In addition to identifying previously known HNSCC genes (TP53, CDKN2A, PTEN, PIK3CA, and HRAS), the analysis revealed many genes not previously implicated in this malignancy. At least 30% of cases harbor mutations in genes (such as NOTCH1, IRF6, TP63) that regulate squamous differentiation, implicating alterations in this process as a major driver of HNSCC carcinogenesis. Altogether, the results suggest that large-scale exome sequencing may illuminate fundamental tumorigenic mechanisms with important therapeutic implications.

Study phs000370

Whole Genomic Sequencing of Nine Primary Colorectal Adenocarcinoma Tumor/Germline Pairs

This study was the first-known effort to complete the complete genome sequencing of primary colorectal adenocarcinomas and the matched germline genome. Nine colorectal adenocarcinomas selected on the basis of having chromosomal instability were subjected to 'shotgun' Illumina sequencing with 101-bp paired end reads to an approximate goal of 30x coverage of tumor and of normal. From these sequences, we used various computational techniques to identify somatic point mutations, insertion/deletions and structural rearrangements in these tumors. From these data, we identified new insights into the rates of background mutations in these cancers, new spectrums of structural alterations including the identification of a novel in-frame fusion gene.

Study phs000374

Genome-Wide Association Study of Breast Cancer in the African Diaspora - the ROOT study

The paucity of data on the genetic epidemiology of breast cancer for racial/ethnic groups other than those of European ancestry hinders the development of innovative interventions to reduce health disparities. Women in the African Diaspora experience a disproportionate burden of pre-menopausal breast cancer in comparison to all other races for reasons that remain unknown and understudied. This higher proportion of early-onset breast cancer might suggest a stronger genetic component in these populations. Genome-wide association studies (GWAS) have revealed several genetic loci that confer risk of breast cancer. Because all GWAS started the discovery stage in women of European ancestry and replicated mainly in women of European ancestry, we propose a novel approach for a GWAS in indigenous African women to identify alleles associated with breast cancer risk which will then be replicated in other populations. This innovative design builds on our current understanding of the etiologic heterogeneity in breast cancer and the distribution of breast cancer molecular subtypes which differ between women of African ancestry and women of European ancestry. The major objective of the proposed studies is to get to the "root" causes of breast cancer by identifying breast cancer risk alleles in a pooled sample of women of African ancestry and to replicate our findings in other populations. To achieve this objective, we conducted a case control study of breast cancer in women of African ancestry, including Africans living in Nigeria, African Americans and African Barbadians. We will genotype ~3800 individuals using the Illumina HumanOmni2.5-Quad platform. We will conduct both standard and novel genetic analyses of the data to map genes associated with breast cancer susceptibility, verify genotyping and carry out fine-mapping studies in genes or regions showing association with breast cancer risk, and replicate in other African American and non-African American populations. By pooling unique resources from studies throughout the African Diaspora, this study has the potential to identify risk alleles in several genes that contribute to increased breast cancer risk and may have implications for early detection, prognosis and treatment of breast cancer in ALL women. This should ultimately lead to improved outcomes for those who suffer a disproportionate burden of early-onset breast cancer.

Study phs000383

Epigenetic Profiling of Human Colorectal Cancer

DNA methylation, together with chromatin modifications, constitute the epigenome that functions to regulate gene expression and genome integrity. DNA methylation alterations are ubiquitous in human cancers, as many genes acquire DNA methylation in a cancer-specific manner. DNA methylation at these sites in the genome of cancer cells not only serves as a marker for tumor identification, but together with gene mutation and gene expression data, can also be used to describe subsets of tumors of the same organ source. We have previously shown distinct human colorectal cancer subtypes based on DNA methylation differences. Correlating these DNA methylation differences with clinical co-variates will serve to further understand how these distinct subtypes are generated. We have collected 100 colorectal tumor tissues (for which clinical information is known) and have obtained (unprotected) genome-wide DNA methylation and chromatin modification information for each sample for the purposes of identifying and classifying unique tumor subtypes of colorectal cancers. In addition, we have determined mutations of key genes relevant to colorectal cancer as well as gene expression profiles. We will use the clinical data for each de-identified sample to correlate with the DNA methylation, mutation and gene expression information so as to understand the driving forces behind these distinct colorectal subtypes. We have selected the most promising tumors for whole-genome bisulfite sequencing using next-generation sequencing technology to obtain complete maps of colon cancer methylomes. Researchers will be unable to identify the subjects because the samples and associated information have been de-identified and anonymized by the tissue source site. In addition, upon receipt by the USC Epigenome Center, we have assigned new random identifiers for each sample. The data generated using these new codes are not traceable to the patient identity.

Study phs000385

Division of Cancer Epidemiology and Genetics (DCEG) Imputation Reference Dataset

We have built a new resource for imputation of SNPs for existing and future genome-wide association studies (GWAS), known as the Division of Cancer Epidemiology and Genetics (DCEG) Reference Set. The first build of the data set includes 728 cancer-free individuals of European descent from three large prospectively sampled studies, 98 African-American individuals from the Prostate, Lung, Colon, and Ovary Cancer Screening Trial (PLCO), 74 Chinese individuals from a Chinese clinical trial in Shanxi, China (SHNX), and 349 unrelated individuals from the HapMap Project (see Molecular Data Section for details on arrays used). The final harmonized dataset includes 2.8 million autosomal polymorphic SNPs on 1,249 subjects after rigorous quality control metrics were applied.

Study phs000396

The Genetic Architecture of Smoking and Smoking Cessation

This study includes samples from two projects: Collaborative Genetic Study of Nicotine Dependence (COGEND; PI: Laura Bierut) and University of Wisconsin Transdisciplinary Tobacco Use Research Center (UW-TTURC; PI: Timothy Baker). Data are available for an additional 1420 COGEND subjects through the Study of Addiction: Genetics and Environment (SAGE), dbGaP study accession phs000092. The majority of these subjects are independent from the current study, but there is a small amount of overlap between the two samples (n=29 subjects) for quality control purposes. It should be noted that the case definition in the SAGE study is DSM-IV alcohol dependence. The case definition in the current study is nicotine dependence by a current score of 4 or greater on the Fagerström Test for Nicotine Dependence (FTND). The overall goal of this project is to identify and characterize genetic variants that contribute to the development of nicotine dependence, related smoking behaviors, and smoking cessation. The COGEND sample includes unrelated cases and controls for a genetic association study of nicotine dependence. Cases are defined by a commonly used definition of nicotine dependence, a current score of 4 or more (maximum score of 10) on the Fagerström Test for Nicotine Dependence (FTND). Control status is defined as an individual who smoked at least 100 cigarettes during their lifetime, yet never became dependent (lifetime FTND=0). By selecting controls who smoked, those genetic effects that are specific to nicotine dependence can be examined. The UW-TTURC sample includes nicotine dependent smokers from three smoking cessation studies. Subjects had to smoke at least 10 cigarettes per day (confirmed smoking by an alveolar carbon monoxide (CO) level greater than 9) and report being motivated to quit smoking. Participants were excluded based on evidence of psychosis history, clinically significant depression symptoms, other severe mental illness, or contraindications to smoking cessation medications. COGEND: COGEND was initiated in 2001 as a three-part program project grant funded through the National Cancer Institute (NCI; PI: Laura Bierut). The three projects included a study of the familial transmission of nicotine dependence, a genetic study of nicotine dependence, and a study of the relationship of nicotine dependence with nicotine metabolism. The primary goal is to detect, localize, and characterize genes that predispose or protect an individual with respect to heavy tobacco consumption, nicotine dependence, and related phenotypes and to integrate these findings with the family transmission and nicotine metabolism findings. The primary design is a community based case-control family study. Nicotine dependent cases and non-dependent, smoking controls were identified and recruited from Detroit and St. Louis. In addition, one sibling for each case and control subject was recruited in a subset of the sample. More than 54,000 subjects aged 25-44 years were screened by telephone; more than 3,100 subjects were personally interviewed; and more than 2,900 subjects donated blood samples for genetic studies. UW-TTURC: The UW-TTURC was initiated in 2001 as a study of nicotine dependence and smoking cessation treatment. The second round of UW-TTURC was initiated in 2005 as a study of efficacy of smoking cessation and long term outcomes. Nicotine dependent smokers seeking cessation treatment were identified and recruited from Madison and Milwaukee, WI. Over 9,000 adult smokers were screened by telephone; 2,575 individuals were enrolled and randomized to treatment conditions that involved use of different smoking cessation medications. Participants from the UW-TTURC smoking cessation clinical trials had the option of participating in a genetic substudy, and approximately 2,000 donated blood samples for genetic studies. The goal of the genetic studies of smokers seeking cessation treatment is to detect, localize, and characterize genes that predispose or protect an individual with respect to heavy tobacco consumption, nicotine dependence, and related phenotypes including cessation, withdrawal, and relapse. Both studies (COGEND and UW-TTURC) include measures of basic socio-demographic variables, including age, sex, race/ethnicity, family income, and educational attainment. Information on nicotine dependence, as assessed by the Fagerström Test for Nicotine Dependence (FTND) is available for all subjects. In addition, participants also completed the Nicotine Dependence Syndrome Scale (NDSS; Shiffman et al., 2004) and the Wisconsin Inventory of Smoking Dependence Motives (WISDM-68; Piper et al, 2004). Coding for both individual variables and indices has been standardized across studies. All subjects were assessed in person by trained research assistants. This study is part of the Gene Environment Association Studies initiative (GENEVA, http://www.genevastudy.org) funded by the trans-NIH Genes, Environment, and Health Initiative (GEI). The overarching goal is to identify novel genetic factors that contribute to the genetic architecture of smoking through large-scale genome-wide association studies of two well-characterized cohorts. Genotyping was performed at the Johns Hopkins University Center for Inherited Disease Research (CIDR). Data cleaning and harmonization were done at the GEI-funded GENEVA Coordinating Center at the University of Washington.

Study phs000404

Whole Exome Sequencing for Colorectal Cancer

This project was designed to use next generation sequencing technology to screen the protein coding regions of the genome for low frequency variants in a panel of high-risk colorectal adenocarcinoma cases. Blood and cell-line DNA for colorectal cancer patients and a subset of quality control samples that had existing whole exome sequence data were analyzed using Illumina HiSeq sequencers. Samples from this project were from participants in the Women's Health Initiative (WHI) and the Diet, Activity, and Lifestyle Study (DALS).

Study phs000410

Temporal Dissection of Tumorigenesis in Primary Cancers

The earliest genetic abnormalities in cancer represent a unique opportunity for timely clinical diagnosis. Classic deep sequencing of tumors identifies many aberrations acquired later in cancer progression. In this study, data regarding simple mutation and chromosomal aberration were integrated to trace the evolution of cutaneous squamous cell carcinomas and ovarian adenocarcinomas. Only after the second allele of TP53 was lost did the genome enter a window of extreme genomic vulnerability, in both cancer types, eventually acquiring more than 100,000 mutations in skin cancers. Inactivating Notch mutations were also identified as prevalent secondary changes. These results add context to the idea of TP53 mutation as dominant negative and occurring later in tumorigenesis.

Study phs000418

Whole Exome Sequencing of Chronic Lymphocytic Leukemia

The somatic genetic basis of chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL), a common and clinically heterogenous adult leukemia, remains poorly understood. Massively parallel sequencing technology now provides a method for systematic discovery of genetic alterations that underlie disease, and for uncovering new therapeutic targets and biomarkers. In study version 2 we presented a dataset consisting of DNA sequencing from 169 CLL samples (with matched germline controls). Samples were collected from patients displaying a wide range of characteristics representing the broad clinical spectrum of CLL. Understanding the mutational landscape of CLL provides a starting point for systematic analyses to address fundamental questions in CLL, including how mutated genes alter cellular networks and phenotypes, and thereby contribute to disease heterogeneity. Intratumoral heterogeneity plays a critical role in tumor evolution. To define the contribution of DNA methylation to heterogeneity within tumors, we performed genome-scale bisulfite sequencing of >100 primary chronic lymphocytic leukemias (CLLs; data presented in study version 3). Compared with 26 normal B cell samples, CLLs consistently displayed higher intrasample variability of DNA methylation patterns across the genome, which appears to arise from stochastically disordered methylation in malignant cells. Transcriptome analysis of bulk and single CLL cells revealed that methylationdisorder was linked to low-level expression. Disordered methylation was further associated with adverse clinical outcome. We therefore propose that disordered methylation plays a similar role to that of genetic instability, enhancing the ability of cancer cells to search for superior evolutionary trajectories.

Study phs000435

Transcriptome sequencing across a prostate cancer cohort identifies PCAT-1, an unannotated lincRNA implicated in disease progression

Noncoding RNAs (ncRNAs) are emerging as key molecules in human cancer, with the potential to serve as novel markers of disease and to reveal uncharacterized aspects of tumor biology. Here we discover 121 unannotated prostate cancer-associated ncRNA transcripts (PCATs) by ab initio assembly of high-throughput sequencing of polyA+ RNA (RNA-Seq) from a cohort of 102 prostate tissues and cells lines. We characterized one ncRNA, PCAT-1, as a prostate-specific regulator of cell proliferation and show that it is a target of the polycomb repressive complex 2 (PRC2). We further found that patterns of PCAT-1 and PRC2 expression stratified patient tissues into molecular subtypes distinguished by expression signatures of PCAT-1-repressed target genes. Taken together, our findings suggest that PCAT-1 is a transcriptional repressor implicated in a subset of prostate cancer patients. These findings establish the utility of RNA-Seq to identify disease-associated ncRNAs that may improve the stratification of cancer subtypes.

Study phs000443

Prostate Cancer Genome Sequencing Project

Prostate cancer is a prevalent cause of cancer morbidity and mortality in men. In order to characterize the full range of somatic mutations in protein-coding genes that may drive the growth of prostate cancer, we sequenced the exonic regions of genomic and tumor DNA from over 100 patients with high-risk primary prostate cancer. Using hybrid capture and paired end DNA sequencing, we identified mutations in several novel putative prostate cancer genes. We interrogated copy number changes across tumor genomes using high-density SNP arrays, and identified a molecular subtype of cancer characterized by mutation of the ubiquitin ligase subunit SPOP and copy number loss at specific genomic loci.

Study phs000447

Melanoma Genome Sequencing Project

Melanoma is the most prevalent cause of skin cancer morbidity and mortality. In order to characterize the full range of somatic mutations that may drive the growth of melanoma, we are sequencing tumor and normal DNA from a set of roughly 150 melanomas. For the majority of samples (approximately 90% of the cases) mutations in protein coding genes will be assessed in the exonic DNA of tumor-normal pairs using hybrid capture and paired-end DNA sequencing. Additionally, in a few DNA samples (approximately 10% of the cases) the entire genomes will be analyzed to assess the possible contribution of complex structural rearrangements contributing to oncogenesis. The sequencing data are supplemented by copy number profiling on the same tumors using high-density SNP arrays. Integration of these approaches will enable the unbiased and comprehensive characterization of both known and novel recurrent DNA alterations that arise in melanoma.

Study phs000452

Exome Recapture and Sequencing of Prospectively Characterized Clinical Specimens From Cancer Patients

The study cohort comprises samples from patients whose tumors have been prospectively characterized as part of their care at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center. This includes a variety of distinct tumor type and molecular subtypes.

Study phs001783

Estrogen Receptor Positive Breast Cancer: Aromatase Inhibitor Response Study

Highly variable outcomes are observed in patients with estrogen receptor positive (ER+) breast cancer who undergo preoperative estrogen deprivation therapy with aromatase inhibitors (AI). In this study, 46 baseline tumor and normal genomes and 31 baseline tumor/normal exomes of participants selected from two clinical trials of neoadjuvant AI therapy on ER+ breast cancer were sequenced to identify somatic alterations that correlate with response to AI, to screen for therapeutic targets and to elucidate the genetic landscape of ER+ breast cancer. From the same set of patients we later performed deep genomic characterization of a subset of matched primary tumors after four months of AI therapy, generating comprehensive information about the range of changes that occur when ER+ breast cancers are subjected to estrogen deprivation. This data includes whole genome sequence and transcriptome data. To better understand tumor heterogeneity and the evolution of resistance to estrogen-deprivation therapy, a subset of these tumours, along with 38 additional cases were sequenced to greater depth using targeted capture with a gene panel.

Study phs000472

Identification of Cancer Predisposition Genes in Breast Cancer Families

Breast cancer has a significant genetic component. The strongest epidemiologic risk factor is family history of the disease. Familial studies have identified a number of genes contributing to increased risk. Of these, the highly penetrant BRCA1 and BRCA2 genes account for the majority of families in whom disease-causal mutations have been identified. However, mutations in other genes have been associated with predisposition to breast or breast and ovarian cancer including (CHEK2, ATM, PALB2, RAD51C, RAD51D). Together these genes account for less than 20% of excess familial breast cancer risk and do not explain ~50% of high-risk families referred for genetic testing. This significant gap in our understanding of the genetic basis of breast cancer poses a significant barrier to our ability to identify women at increased risk, who would benefit greatly from appropriate clinical management. To identify additional breast cancer predisposition genes whole exome sequencing of familial high-risk breast cancer patients was undertaken. DNA samples from 50 pairs of breast cancer patients from high-risk breast cancer families with no pathogenic mutations in the BRCA1 or BRCA2 breast cancer predisposition genes were subjected to whole exome sequencing. The goal was to select candidate predisposition genes for further validation studies based on sharing of putative protein inactivating mutations among both members of each family and/or the frequency of inactivating mutations among the 50 families.

Study phs000480

Functionally Active Copy Number Variants Associated with Prostate Cancer Risk

Prostate cancer is a leading cause of cancer death in males throughout the world and has the largest estimated effect of heritability among the most common tumor types. Copy Number Variants (CNVs) are a recently recognized class of human germline polymorphisms (Iafrate AJ, et al. (2004) Nat Genet 36, 949-951; Sebat J, et al. (2004) Science 305, 525-528.) and are associated with a variety of human diseases, including cancer. This study characterized 1,903 individuals from the Tyrol Early Prostate Cancer Detection Program (Bartsch G, et al. (2008) BJU Int 101, 809-816) using a computational framework (Banerjee S, et al. (2011) PLoS One 29;6(3)). The study results establish non-coding and coding germline CNVs as significant risk factors for prostate cancer susceptibility and implicate their role in disease development and progression. The study "Identification of functionally active, low frequency copy number variants at 15q21.3 and 12q21.31 associated with prostate cancer risk," Demichelis F, Setlur SR, Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2012 Apr 24;109(17):6686-91.

Study phs000487

Genomic Sequencing of Lung Adenocarcinoma

Lung carcinoma is the leading cause of cancer death in the United States and world-wide; lung adenocarcinoma is the most common cause of lung cancer. Pilot studies of lung adenocarcinoma with hybrid-capture based whole exome sequencing will enable us to identify new targets for therapy and improve diagnosis. We will analyze a blend of whole exome and whole genome sequencing data as well as copy number and somatic mutation calls for 200 tumor and matched normal controls. When completed this study will represent the most comprehensive lung adenocarcinoma genome dataset to date.

Study phs000488

Medulloblastoma exome sequence analysis

Medulloblastomas are the most common malignant brain tumors in children. Identifying and understanding the genetic events that drive these tumors is critical for the development of more effective diagnostic, prognostic and therapeutic strategies. Recently, our group and others described distinct molecular subtypes of medulloblastoma based on transcriptional and copy number profiles. Here, we utilized whole exome hybrid capture and Illumina sequencing to identify somatic mutations across the coding regions of 92 primary medulloblastoma/normal pairs. Overall, medulloblastomas exhibit low mutation rates consistent with other pediatric tumors, with a median of 0.35 non-silent mutations per megabase. We identified twelve genes mutated at statistically significant frequencies, including previously known mutated genes in medulloblastoma such as CTNNB1, PTCH1, MLL2, SMARCA4 and TP53. Recurrent somatic mutations were identified in an RNA helicase gene, DDX3X, often concurrent with CTNNB1 mutations, and in the nuclear co-repressor (N-CoR) complex genes GPS2, BCOR, and LDB1, to our knowledge novel findings in medulloblastoma and all cancer. We show that mutant DDX3X potentiates transactivation of a TCF promoter and enhances cell viability in combination with mutant but not wild type beta-catenin. Together, our study reveals the alteration of Wnt, Hedgehog, histone methyltransferase and now N-CoR pathways across medulloblastomas and nominates the RNA helicase DDX3X as a component of pathogenic beta-catenin signaling in medulloblastoma. "Reprinted from 'MEDULLOBLASTOMA EXOME SEQUENCING UNCOVERS SUBTYPE-SPECIFIC SOMATIC MUTATION', with permission from Nature"

Study phs000504

Genomic Sequencing of Pediatric Rhaboid Cancers

In this study, we sequenced the exomes of 35 rhabdoid tumors, highly aggressive cancers of early childhood. This study is part of a larger effort to characterize pediatric cancers as part of the Slim Initiative for Genomic Medicine (SIGMA) project.

Study phs000508

Genome Sequencing of Hepatocellular Carcinoma at The Human Genome Sequencing Center of Baylor College of Medicine (HGSC-BCM)

Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) accounts for 85-90% of primary liver cancers. We have focused on three major HCC etiologies:hepatitis C virus (HCV), hepatitis B virus (HBV), and nonviral causes. The onset and progression of cancer is driven by extensive rearrangement and mutation of the genome. We combined our capability to capture and enrich exome DNA with the next generation sequencing capacity to allow us to detect and characterize the somatic mutation profile of patients with HCC. Patient samples were collected by the Liver Center, Division of Abdominal Transplantation in the Baylor College of Medicine Department of Surgery. Sequencing of HCC is one of the NHGRI Center Initiated Projects in progress in the Human Genome Sequencing Center at Baylor College of Medicine.

Study phs000509

Rearrangements of the MAST Kinase and Notch Gene Families in Breast Cancer

Paired-end transcriptome sequencing was performed on a panel of breast cancer cell lines and tissues and a set of benign cell line and tissue controls. Analyses of the paired end sequences were performed and chimeric transcripts derived from gene rearrangement events were identified. Sequencing was performed on Illumina GAII and HiSeq 2000 platforms with read lengths from 40 to 100 bases.

Study phs000513

Genome Sequencing of Pancreatic Ductal Adenocarcinoma at The Human Genome Sequencing Center of Baylor College of Medicine (HGSC-BCM)

Pancreatic ductal adenocarcinomas (PDAC) is the 11th most common cancer in the USA but the 4th in fatalities. The onset and progression of cancer is driven by extensive rearrangement and mutation of the genome. We combined our capability to capture and enrich exome DNA with the next generation sequencing capacity to allow us to detect and characterize the somatic mutation profile of 24 patients with PDAC. Patient samples were collected by the Elkins Pancreatic Center in the Baylor College of Medicine Department of Surgery. Sequencing of the pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma is one of the NHGRI Center Initiated Projects in progress in the Human Genome Sequencing Center at Baylor College of Medicine. These data are also contributed to an ICGC study and will be published with the ICGC collaborators.

Study phs000516

GWAS in African Americans, Latinos and Japanese

The Multiethnic Cohort Study is a population-based prospective cohort study (n=215,251) that was initiated between 1993 and 1996 and includes subjects from various ethnic groups - African Americans and Latinos primarily from Californian (great Los Angeles area) and Native Hawaiians, Japanese-Americans, and European Americans primarily from Hawaii. State drivers' license files were the primary sources used to identify study subjects in Hawaii and California. Additionally, in Hawaii, state voter's registration files were used, and, in California, Health Care Financing Administration (HCFA) files were used to identify additional African American study subjects. In the cohort, incident cancer cases are identified annually through cohort linkage to population-based cancer Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results (SEER) registries in Hawaii and Los Angeles County as well as to the California State cancer registry. Information on estrogen receptor status is also obtained through these registries. Blood sample collection in the MEC began in 1994 and targeted incident breast cancer cases and a random sample of study participants to serve as controls for genetic analyses. Subjects are frequency matched on age at blood draw and ethnicity. The following number of breast cancer cases and controls were genome-wide scanned as part of this study: African Americans, 473 cases and 464 controls; Japanese: 885 cases and 822 controls; Latinos, 520 cases and 544 controls.

Study phs000517

Study of Melanoma Risk in Australia and the United Kingdom

The results from a small number of melanoma GWAS have been published. Initial studies identified several pigmentation- and nevus-associated loci that mediate an effect on melanoma risk, however, these studies were somewhat limited in that sample number (hence power) was low, they used first-generation low density SNP arrays, or used pools of DNA samples. Subsequently, additional melanoma GWAS have been completed, including a "Phase 2" study by the International Melanoma Genetics Consortium (GenoMEL), a full GWAS of the Australian sample resource previously used in a pooled-DNA GWAS, and study conducted through the MD Anderson Cancer Center and the Brigham and Women's Hospital. The groups who performed these studies have recently shared data and replicated a number of new melanoma susceptibility loci. Aside from the identification of novel loci, there are two additional notable outcomes of these studies. Firstly, an examination of the observed versus expected test statistics (Q-Q plot) from the Australian study, even after removing data from SNPs within known replicated susceptibility loci, reveals that there remains an excess of positive results. Similarly, the latest GenoMEL study finds almost three times as many SNPs reaching p-values between 10-4 and 10-5 as would be expected by chance. In the light of other studies of complex traits [1], these data suggest that studies based on additional melanoma samples from the same population are likely to identify an even larger "polygenic tail" and should prove invaluable in identifying and characterizing the underlying loci. A second observation, is that the effect size for replicated associations differs very little between GWAS. Given the strong effect of ultraviolet radiation (UVR) on risk of melanoma this might be expected to affect penetrance, particularly in the Australian and English samples, which are ethnically similar, but have very different sun exposures. We hypothesize that those SNPs whose effects are strongly mediated by UVR exposure may have smaller marginal effects on risk and are therefore harder to detect initially, suggesting a whole category of genetic effects that are unexplored.Indeed, most melanoma GWAS performed to date used samples from both European and Australian populations in discovery and or replication, and thus, existing studies have been poorly powered to detect associations with a wide difference in effect between these low- and high-UVR populations. Here, we wish to pursue this hypothesis further and plan to genotype additional cases drawn from the English and Australian populations. This will serve two complementary objectives: firstly, it will greatly increase our collective power to detect additional new melanoma risk alleles; secondly, it will highlight associations that are stronger specifically within the context of either low-UVR or high-UVR exposure environments. We posit that these data will be invaluable, not just for identifying novel melanoma-associated loci, but also for addressing gene-environment interactions. We have available a collection of valuable resources to help fulfill our aims. These include a considerable number of well-characterized and ungenotyped Australian and UK melanoma cases, as well as existing genotype data from sets of Australian and UK cases and population-based controls. We propose the following Specific Aims: To extend our current collective melanoma GWAS by genotyping a large number of additional UK and Australian cases. To jointly analyze these data and identify new melanoma risk loci. To determine whether pre-existing and new melanoma risk alleles show different degrees of association between the English and Australian populations, and assess whether these differences might be due to differences in sunlight exposure.

Study phs000519

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