hide
Free keywords:
BARX1, esophageal adenocarcinoma, FOXF1, FOXP1, genetic association study
Abstract:
The Barrett's and Esophageal Adenocarcinoma Consortium (BEACON) recently
performed a genome-wide association study (GWAS) on esophageal
adenocarcinoma (EAC) and Barrett's esophagus. They identified
genome-wide significant association for variants at three genes, namely
CRTC1, FOXP1, and BARX1. Furthermore, they replicated an association at
the FOXF1 gene that has been previously found in a GWAS on Barrett's
esophagus. We aimed at further replicating the association at these and
other loci that showed suggestive association with P< 10(-4) in the
BEACON sample. In total, we tested 88 SNPs in an independent sample
consisting of 1065 EAC cases and 1019 controls of German descent. We
could replicate the association at FOXP1, BARX1, and FOXF1 with nominal
significance and thereby confirm that genetic variants at these genes
confer EAC risk. In addition, we found association of variants near the
genes XRCC2 and GATA6 that were strongly (P<10(-5)) although not
genome-wide significantly associated with the BEACON GWAS. Therefore,
both variants and corresponding genes represent promising candidates for
future EAC association studies on independent samples.