A Meta-analysis of Multiple Myeloma Risk Regions in African and European Ancestry Populations Identifies Putatively Functional Loci

Cancer Epidemiol Biomarkers Prev. 2016 Dec;25(12):1609-1618. doi: 10.1158/1055-9965.EPI-15-1193. Epub 2016 Sep 1.

Abstract

Background: Genome-wide association studies (GWAS) in European populations have identified genetic risk variants associated with multiple myeloma.

Methods: We performed association testing of common variation in eight regions in 1,318 patients with multiple myeloma and 1,480 controls of European ancestry and 1,305 patients with multiple myeloma and 7,078 controls of African ancestry and conducted a meta-analysis to localize the signals, with epigenetic annotation used to predict functionality.

Results: We found that variants in 7p15.3, 17p11.2, 22q13.1 were statistically significantly (P < 0.05) associated with multiple myeloma risk in persons of African ancestry and persons of European ancestry, and the variant in 3p22.1 was associated in European ancestry only. In a combined African ancestry-European ancestry meta-analysis, variation in five regions (2p23.3, 3p22.1, 7p15.3, 17p11.2, 22q13.1) was statistically significantly associated with multiple myeloma risk. In 3p22.1, the correlated variants clustered within the gene body of ULK4 Correlated variants in 7p15.3 clustered around an enhancer at the 3' end of the CDCA7L transcription termination site. A missense variant at 17p11.2 (rs34562254, Pro251Leu, OR, 1.32; P = 2.93 × 10-7) in TNFRSF13B encodes a lymphocyte-specific protein in the TNF receptor family that interacts with the NF-κB pathway. SNPs correlated with the index signal in 22q13.1 cluster around the promoter and enhancer regions of CBX7 CONCLUSIONS: We found that reported multiple myeloma susceptibility regions contain risk variants important across populations, supporting the use of multiple racial/ethnic groups with different underlying genetic architecture to enhance the localization and identification of putatively functional alleles.

Impact: A subset of reported risk loci for multiple myeloma has consistent effects across populations and is likely to be functional. Cancer Epidemiol Biomarkers Prev; 25(12); 1609-18. ©2016 AACR.

Publication types

  • Meta-Analysis
  • Multicenter Study

MeSH terms

  • Adult
  • Aged
  • Black People / genetics*
  • Female
  • Genetic Loci
  • Genetic Predisposition to Disease*
  • Genome-Wide Association Study
  • Humans
  • Male
  • Middle Aged
  • Multiple Myeloma / genetics*
  • Multiple Myeloma / metabolism
  • Polycomb Repressive Complex 1 / genetics
  • Polymorphism, Single Nucleotide*
  • Protein Serine-Threonine Kinases / genetics
  • Repressor Proteins / genetics
  • Transmembrane Activator and CAML Interactor Protein / genetics
  • White People / genetics*

Substances

  • CBX7 protein, human
  • CDCA7L protein, human
  • Repressor Proteins
  • TNFRSF13B protein, human
  • Transmembrane Activator and CAML Interactor Protein
  • Polycomb Repressive Complex 1
  • Protein Serine-Threonine Kinases
  • Ulk4 protein, human

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