Large-scale genome-wide association study of 398,238 women unveils seven novel loci associated with high-grade serous epithelial ovarian cancer risk.

Background: Nineteen genomic regions have been associated with high-grade serous ovarian cancer (HGSOC). We used data from the Ovarian Cancer Association Consortium (OCAC), Consortium of Investigators of Modifiers of BRCA1/BRCA2 (CIMBA), UK Biobank (UKBB), and FinnGen to identify novel HGSOC susceptibility loci and develop polygenic scores (PGS). Methods: We analyzed >22 million variants for 398,238 women. Associations were assessed separately by consortium and meta-analysed. OCAC and CIMBA data were used to develop PGS which were trained on FinnGen data and validated in UKBB and BioBank Japan. Results: Eight novel variants were associated with HGSOC risk. An interesting discovery biologically was finding that TP53 3'-UTR SNP rs78378222 was associated with HGSOC (per T allele relative risk (RR)=1.44, 95%CI:1.28-1.62, P=1.76×10-9). The optimal PGS included 64,518 variants and was associated with an odds ratio of 1.46 (95%CI:1.37-1.54) per standard deviation in the UKBB validation (AUROC curve=0.61, 95%CI:0.59-0.62). Conclusions: This study represents the largest GWAS for HGSOC to date. The results highlight that improvements in imputation reference panels and increased sample sizes can identify HGSOC associated variants that previously went undetected, resulting in improved PGS. The use of updated PGS in cancer risk prediction algorithms will then improve personalized risk prediction for HGSOC.

A Breast Cancer Candidate Locus at 6q Narrowed to 6q15-q21.

Although a number of high-risk breast cancer genes have been identified, including BRCA1 and BRCA2, the risk profile of many high-risk families cannot be explained using known breast cancer genes. Previously, we have shown strong indications of new breast cancer risk loci at chromosomes 2p, 6q, and 14q in a family of six generations including 10 breast cancer cases. In this study, we identified and traced four new family branches descending from siblings of the parents in the top generation of the studied family. One distantly related branch included four breast cancer cases, two of whom were diagnosed at age < 45 years. DNA samples from the cases were typed at selected polymorphic markers from all three chromosome loci, to test identical origin of the haplotypes. All four cases were shown to segregate a common 6q haplotype with a region identical to the previously identified 6q haplotype. The data strongly support a new breast cancer locus at 6q, and narrow it down to a 17 MB interval at 6q15-q21.

Estrogen receptor-positive breast cancer and adverse outcome in BRCA2 mutation carriers and young non-carrier patients.

Estrogen receptor-positive (ER+) breast cancer generally confers a more favorable prognosis than ER-negative cancer, however, a different picture is emerging for BRCA2 mutation carriers and young patients. We used nationwide data from population-based registries to study prognostic effects in those two groups. Of all 2817 eligible women diagnosed with breast cancer in Iceland during 1980-2004, 85% had been tested for the Icelandic 999del5 BRCA2 (c.771_775delTCAAA) founder pathogenic variant. We compared breast cancer-specific survival, effects of ER status, other clinical parameters, and treatment, between three mutually exclusive groups: BRCA2-carriers, non-carriers diagnosed 40 years or younger, and older non-carriers. Prevalence of the BRCA2 mutation among tested patients <=40 years of age was 21.0%, but it was 5.4% among women diagnosed >40 years of age. For ER+ cancer, breast cancer-specific 15-year survival was 49.7%, 55.2%, and 74.7%, among BRCA2-carriers, young and older non-carriers, respectively, whereas for ER-negative cancer, survival was similar (64.0-69.3%) for all three groups. Neither BRCA2 carriers nor young non-carriers did tumor grade 3 predict worse survival than did tumor grade 1. The adverse outcome for the young cases cannot be explained by BRCA2 mutations, as carriers were excluded from the group. Those two clinically important patient groups need special attention with respect to treatment choices, in particular, if diagnosed with ER+ tumors. It is thus advisable to have knowledge of BRCA2 status when treatment decisions are made. Finally, it is important to understand the biological basis for the specific nature of ER+ tumors in young women and BRCA2 carriers.

High Atlastin 2-2 (ATL2-2) Expression Associates with Worse Prognosis in Estrogen-Receptor-Positive Breast Cancer.

The disruption of endoplasmic reticulum (ER) homeostasis occurs in many human diseases. Atlastins (ATLs) maintain the branched network of the ER. The dysregulation of ATL2, located at ER network junctions, has been associated with cancer. ATL2 is necessary for lipid droplet formation in murine breast tissue. Thus, we analyzed whether ATL2 has a role in human breast cancer (BC) pathology. The expression of ATL2 variant ATL2-2 was analyzed in breast tumors from the BC cohorts of the TCGA, METABRIC, and two independent Icelandic cohorts, Cohort 1 and 2; its association with clinical, pathological, survival, and cellular pathways was explored. ATL2-2 mRNA and protein expression were higher in breast tumors than in normal tissue. ATL2-2 mRNA associated with tumor characteristics that indicate a worse prognosis. In METABRIC, high ATL2-2 mRNA levels were associated with shorter BC-specific survival (BCSS) in patients with estrogen-receptor-positive luminal breast tumors, which remained significant after correction for grade and tumor size (HR 1.334, CI 1.063-1.673). Tumors with high ATL2 mRNA showed an upregulation of hallmark pathways MYC targets v1, E2F targets, and G2M checkpoint genes. Taken together, the results suggest that high levels of ATL2-2 may support BC progression through key cancer driver pathways.

Copy number variants as modifiers of breast cancer risk for BRCA1/BRCA2 pathogenic variant carriers.

The contribution of germline copy number variants (CNVs) to risk of developing cancer in individuals with pathogenic BRCA1 or BRCA2 variants remains relatively unknown. We conducted the largest genome-wide analysis of CNVs in 15,342 BRCA1 and 10,740 BRCA2 pathogenic variant carriers. We used these results to prioritise a candidate breast cancer risk-modifier gene for laboratory analysis and biological validation. Notably, the HR for deletions in BRCA1 suggested an elevated breast cancer risk estimate (hazard ratio (HR) = 1.21), 95% confidence interval (95% CI = 1.09-1.35) compared with non-CNV pathogenic variants. In contrast, deletions overlapping SULT1A1 suggested a decreased breast cancer risk (HR = 0.73, 95% CI 0.59-0.91) in BRCA1 pathogenic variant carriers. Functional analyses of SULT1A1 showed that reduced mRNA expression in pathogenic BRCA1 variant cells was associated with reduced cellular proliferation and reduced DNA damage after treatment with DNA damaging agents. These data provide evidence that deleterious variants in BRCA1 plus SULT1A1 deletions contribute to variable breast cancer risk in BRCA1 carriers.

Polygenic risk modeling for prediction of epithelial ovarian cancer risk.

Polygenic risk scores (PRS) for epithelial ovarian cancer (EOC) have the potential to improve risk stratification. Joint estimation of Single Nucleotide Polymorphism (SNP) effects in models could improve predictive performance over standard approaches of PRS construction. Here, we implemented computationally efficient, penalized, logistic regression models (lasso, elastic net, stepwise) to individual level genotype data and a Bayesian framework with continuous shrinkage, "select and shrink for summary statistics" (S4), to summary level data for epithelial non-mucinous ovarian cancer risk prediction. We developed the models in a dataset consisting of 23,564 non-mucinous EOC cases and 40,138 controls participating in the Ovarian Cancer Association Consortium (OCAC) and validated the best models in three populations of different ancestries: prospective data from 198,101 women of European ancestries; 7,669 women of East Asian ancestries; 1,072 women of African ancestries, and in 18,915 BRCA1 and 12,337 BRCA2 pathogenic variant carriers of European ancestries. In the external validation data, the model with the strongest association for non-mucinous EOC risk derived from the OCAC model development data was the S4 model (27,240 SNPs) with odds ratios (OR) of 1.38 (95% CI: 1.28-1.48, AUC: 0.588) per unit standard deviation, in women of European ancestries; 1.14 (95% CI: 1.08-1.19, AUC: 0.538) in women of East Asian ancestries; 1.38 (95% CI: 1.21-1.58, AUC: 0.593) in women of African ancestries; hazard ratios of 1.36 (95% CI: 1.29-1.43, AUC: 0.592) in BRCA1 pathogenic variant carriers and 1.49 (95% CI: 1.35-1.64, AUC: 0.624) in BRCA2 pathogenic variant carriers. Incorporation of the S4 PRS in risk prediction models for ovarian cancer may have clinical utility in ovarian cancer prevention programs.

Breast and Prostate Cancer Risks for Male BRCA1 and BRCA2 Pathogenic Variant Carriers Using Polygenic Risk Scores.

BACKGROUND: Recent population-based female breast cancer and prostate cancer polygenic risk scores (PRS) have been developed. We assessed the associations of these PRS with breast and prostate cancer risks for male BRCA1 and BRCA2 pathogenic variant carriers. METHODS: 483 BRCA1 and 1318 BRCA2 European ancestry male carriers were available from the Consortium of Investigators of Modifiers of BRCA1/2 (CIMBA). A 147-single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) prostate cancer PRS (PRSPC) and a 313-SNP breast cancer PRS were evaluated. There were 3 versions of the breast cancer PRS, optimized to predict overall (PRSBC), estrogen receptor (ER)-negative (PRSER-), or ER-positive (PRSER+) breast cancer risk. RESULTS: PRSER+ yielded the strongest association with breast cancer risk. The odds ratios (ORs) per PRSER+ standard deviation estimates were 1.40 (95% confidence interval [CI] =1.07 to 1.83) for BRCA1 and 1.33 (95% CI = 1.16 to 1.52) for BRCA2 carriers. PRSPC was associated with prostate cancer risk for BRCA1 (OR = 1.73, 95% CI = 1.28 to 2.33) and BRCA2 (OR = 1.60, 95% CI = 1.34 to 1.91) carriers. The estimated breast cancer odds ratios were larger after adjusting for female relative breast cancer family history. By age 85 years, for BRCA2 carriers, the breast cancer risk varied from 7.7% to 18.4% and prostate cancer risk from 34.1% to 87.6% between the 5th and 95th percentiles of the PRS distributions. CONCLUSIONS: Population-based prostate and female breast cancer PRS are associated with a wide range of absolute breast and prostate cancer risks for male BRCA1 and BRCA2 carriers. These findings warrant further investigation aimed at providing personalized cancer risks for male carriers and informing clinical management.

Hsa-miR-21-3p associates with breast cancer patient survival and targets genes in tumor suppressive pathways.

Breast cancer is the cancer most often diagnosed in women. MicroRNAs (MIRs) are short RNA molecules that bind mRNA resulting in their downregulation. MIR21 has been shown to be an oncomiR in most cancer types, including breast cancer. Most of the effects of miR-21 have been attributed to hsa-miR-21-5p that is transcribed from the leading strand of MIR21, but hsa-miR-21-3p (miR-21-3p), transcribed from the lagging strand, is much less studied. The aim of the study is to analyze whether expression of miR-21-3p is prognostic for breast cancer. MiR-21-3p association with survival, clinical and pathological characteristics was analyzed in a large breast cancer cohort and validated in three separate cohorts, including TCGA and METABRIC. Analytical tools were also used to infer miR-21-3p function and to identify potential target genes and functional pathways. The results showed that in the exploration cohort, high miR-21-3p levels associated with shorter survival and lymph node positivity. In the three validation cohorts, high miR-21-3p levels associated with pathological characteristics that predict worse prognosis. Specifically, in the largest validation cohort, METABRIC (n = 1174), high miR-21-3p levels associated with large tumors, a high grade, lymph node and HER2 positivity, and shorter breast-cancer-specific survival (HR = 1.38, CI 1.13-1.68). This association remained significant after adjusting for confounding factors. The genes with expression levels that correlated with miR-21-3p were enriched in particular pathways, including the epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition and proliferation. Among the most significantly downregulated targets were MAT2A and the tumor suppressive genes STARD13 and ZNF132. The results from this study emphasize that both 3p- and 5p-arms from a MIR warrant independent study. The data show that miR-21-3p overexpression in breast tumors is a marker of worse breast cancer progression and it affects genes in pathways that drive breast cancer by down-regulating tumor suppressor genes. The results suggest miR-21-3p as a potential biomarker.

Breast cancer survival in Nordic BRCA2 mutation carriers-unconventional association with oestrogen receptor status.

BACKGROUND: The natural history of breast cancer among BRCA2 carriers has not been clearly established. In a previous study from Iceland, positive ER status was a negative prognostic factor. We sought to identify factors that predicted survival after invasive breast cancer in an expanded cohort of BRCA2 carriers. METHODS: We studied 608 women with invasive breast cancer and a pathogenic BRCA2 mutation (variant) from four Nordic countries. Information on prognostic factors and treatment was retrieved from health records and by analysis of archived tissue specimens. Hazard ratios (HR) were estimated for breast cancer-specific survival using Cox regression. RESULTS: About 77% of cancers were ER-positive, with the highest proportion (83%) in patients under 40 years. ER-positive breast cancers were more likely to be node-positive (59%) than ER-negative cancers (34%) (P < 0.001). The survival analysis included 584 patients. Positive ER status was protective in the first 5 years from diagnosis (multivariate HR = 0.49; 95% CI 0.26-0.93, P = 0.03); thereafter, the effect was adverse (HR = 1.91; 95% CI 1.07-3.39, P = 0.03). The adverse effect of positive ER status was limited to women who did not undergo endocrine treatment (HR = 2.36; 95% CI 1.26-4.44, P = 0.01) and patients with intact ovaries (HR = 1.99; 95% CI 1.11-3.59, P = 0.02). CONCLUSIONS: The adverse effect of a positive ER status in BRCA2 carriers with breast cancer may be contingent on exposure to ovarian hormones.

Characterization of the Cancer Spectrum in Men With Germline BRCA1 and BRCA2 Pathogenic Variants: Results From the Consortium of Investigators of Modifiers of BRCA1/2 (CIMBA).

Importance: The limited data on cancer phenotypes in men with germline BRCA1 and BRCA2 pathogenic variants (PVs) have hampered the development of evidence-based recommendations for early cancer detection and risk reduction in this population. Objective: To compare the cancer spectrum and frequencies between male BRCA1 and BRCA2 PV carriers. Design, Setting, and Participants: Retrospective cohort study of 6902 men, including 3651 BRCA1 and 3251 BRCA2 PV carriers, older than 18 years recruited from cancer genetics clinics from 1966 to 2017 by 53 study groups in 33 countries worldwide collaborating through the Consortium of Investigators of Modifiers of BRCA1/2 (CIMBA). Clinical data and pathologic characteristics were collected. Main Outcomes and Measures: BRCA1/2 status was the outcome in a logistic regression, and cancer diagnoses were the independent predictors. All odds ratios (ORs) were adjusted for age, country of origin, and calendar year of the first interview. Results: Among the 6902 men in the study (median [range] age, 51.6 [18-100] years), 1634 cancers were diagnosed in 1376 men (19.9%), the majority (922 of 1,376 [67%]) being BRCA2 PV carriers. Being affected by any cancer was associated with a higher probability of being a BRCA2, rather than a BRCA1, PV carrier (OR, 3.23; 95% CI, 2.81-3.70; P < .001), as well as developing 2 (OR, 7.97; 95% CI, 5.47-11.60; P < .001) and 3 (OR, 19.60; 95% CI, 4.64-82.89; P < .001) primary tumors. A higher frequency of breast (OR, 5.47; 95% CI, 4.06-7.37; P < .001) and prostate (OR, 1.39; 95% CI, 1.09-1.78; P = .008) cancers was associated with a higher probability of being a BRCA2 PV carrier. Among cancers other than breast and prostate, pancreatic cancer was associated with a higher probability (OR, 3.00; 95% CI, 1.55-5.81; P = .001) and colorectal cancer with a lower probability (OR, 0.47; 95% CI, 0.29-0.78; P = .003) of being a BRCA2 PV carrier. Conclusions and Relevance: Significant differences in the cancer spectrum were observed in male BRCA2, compared with BRCA1, PV carriers. These data may inform future recommendations for surveillance of BRCA1/2-associated cancers and guide future prospective studies for estimating cancer risks in men with BRCA1/2 PVs.

Polygenic risk scores and breast and epithelial ovarian cancer risks for carriers of BRCA1 and BRCA2 pathogenic variants.

PURPOSE: We assessed the associations between population-based polygenic risk scores (PRS) for breast (BC) or epithelial ovarian cancer (EOC) with cancer risks for BRCA1 and BRCA2 pathogenic variant carriers. METHODS: Retrospective cohort data on 18,935 BRCA1 and 12,339 BRCA2 female pathogenic variant carriers of European ancestry were available. Three versions of a 313 single-nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) BC PRS were evaluated based on whether they predict overall, estrogen receptor (ER)-negative, or ER-positive BC, and two PRS for overall or high-grade serous EOC. Associations were validated in a prospective cohort. RESULTS: The ER-negative PRS showed the strongest association with BC risk for BRCA1 carriers (hazard ratio [HR] per standard deviation = 1.29 [95% CI 1.25-1.33], P = 3×10-72). For BRCA2, the strongest association was with overall BC PRS (HR = 1.31 [95% CI 1.27-1.36], P = 7×10-50). HR estimates decreased significantly with age and there was evidence for differences in associations by predicted variant effects on protein expression. The HR estimates were smaller than general population estimates. The high-grade serous PRS yielded the strongest associations with EOC risk for BRCA1 (HR = 1.32 [95% CI 1.25-1.40], P = 3×10-22) and BRCA2 (HR = 1.44 [95% CI 1.30-1.60], P = 4×10-12) carriers. The associations in the prospective cohort were similar. CONCLUSION: Population-based PRS are strongly associated with BC and EOC risks for BRCA1/2 carriers and predict substantial absolute risk differences for women at PRS distribution extremes.

Transcriptome-wide association study of breast cancer risk by estrogen-receptor status.

Previous transcriptome-wide association studies (TWAS) have identified breast cancer risk genes by integrating data from expression quantitative loci and genome-wide association studies (GWAS), but analyses of breast cancer subtype-specific associations have been limited. In this study, we conducted a TWAS using gene expression data from GTEx and summary statistics from the hitherto largest GWAS meta-analysis conducted for breast cancer overall, and by estrogen receptor subtypes (ER+ and ER-). We further compared associations with ER+ and ER- subtypes, using a case-only TWAS approach. We also conducted multigene conditional analyses in regions with multiple TWAS associations. Two genes, STXBP4 and HIST2H2BA, were specifically associated with ER+ but not with ER- breast cancer. We further identified 30 TWAS-significant genes associated with overall breast cancer risk, including four that were not identified in previous studies. Conditional analyses identified single independent breast-cancer gene in three of six regions harboring multiple TWAS-significant genes. Our study provides new information on breast cancer genetics and biology, particularly about genomic differences between ER+ and ER- breast cancer.

Fine-mapping of 150 breast cancer risk regions identifies 191 likely target genes.

Genome-wide association studies have identified breast cancer risk variants in over 150 genomic regions, but the mechanisms underlying risk remain largely unknown. These regions were explored by combining association analysis with in silico genomic feature annotations. We defined 205 independent risk-associated signals with the set of credible causal variants in each one. In parallel, we used a Bayesian approach (PAINTOR) that combines genetic association, linkage disequilibrium and enriched genomic features to determine variants with high posterior probabilities of being causal. Potentially causal variants were significantly over-represented in active gene regulatory regions and transcription factor binding sites. We applied our INQUSIT pipeline for prioritizing genes as targets of those potentially causal variants, using gene expression (expression quantitative trait loci), chromatin interaction and functional annotations. Known cancer drivers, transcription factors and genes in the developmental, apoptosis, immune system and DNA integrity checkpoint gene ontology pathways were over-represented among the highest-confidence target genes.

Association of Genomic Domains in BRCA1 and BRCA2 with Prostate Cancer Risk and Aggressiveness.

Pathogenic sequence variants (PSV) in BRCA1 or BRCA2 (BRCA1/2) are associated with increased risk and severity of prostate cancer. We evaluated whether PSVs in BRCA1/2 were associated with risk of overall prostate cancer or high grade (Gleason 8+) prostate cancer using an international sample of 65 BRCA1 and 171 BRCA2 male PSV carriers with prostate cancer, and 3,388 BRCA1 and 2,880 BRCA2 male PSV carriers without prostate cancer. PSVs in the 3' region of BRCA2 (c.7914+) were significantly associated with elevated risk of prostate cancer compared with reference bin c.1001-c.7913 [HR = 1.78; 95% confidence interval (CI), 1.25-2.52; P = 0.001], as well as elevated risk of Gleason 8+ prostate cancer (HR = 3.11; 95% CI, 1.63-5.95; P = 0.001). c.756-c.1000 was also associated with elevated prostate cancer risk (HR = 2.83; 95% CI, 1.71-4.68; P = 0.00004) and elevated risk of Gleason 8+ prostate cancer (HR = 4.95; 95% CI, 2.12-11.54; P = 0.0002). No genotype-phenotype associations were detected for PSVs in BRCA1. These results demonstrate that specific BRCA2 PSVs may be associated with elevated risk of developing aggressive prostate cancer. SIGNIFICANCE: Aggressive prostate cancer risk in BRCA2 mutation carriers may vary according to the specific BRCA2 mutation inherited by the at-risk individual.

The BRCA1 c.4096+3A>G Variant Displays Classical Characteristics of Pathogenic BRCA1 Mutations in Hereditary Breast and Ovarian Cancers, But Still Allows Homozygous Viability.

Mutations in BRCA1 result in predisposal to breast and ovarian cancers, but many variants exist with unknown clinical significance (VUS). One is BRCA1 c.4096+3A>G, which affects production of the full-length BRCA1 transcript, while augmenting transcripts lacking most or all of exon 11. Nonetheless, homozygosity of this variant has been reported in a healthy woman. We saw this variant cosegregate with breast and ovarian cancer in several family branches of four Icelandic pedigrees, with instances of phenocopies and a homozygous woman with lung cancer. We found eight heterozygous carriers (0.44%) in 1820 unselected breast cancer cases, and three (0.15%) in 1968 controls (p = 0.13). Seeking conclusive evidence, we studied tumors from carriers in the pedigrees for wild-type-loss of heterozygosity (wtLOH) and BRCA1-characteristic prevalence of estrogen receptor (ER) negativity. Of 15 breast and six ovarian tumors, wtLOH occurred in nine breast and all six ovarian tumours, and six of the nine breast tumors with wtLOH were ER-negative. These data accord with a pathogenic BRCA1-mutation. Our findings add to the current knowledge of BRCA1, and the role of its exon 11 in cancer pathogenicity, and will be of use in clinical genetic counselling.

The FANCM:p.Arg658* truncating variant is associated with risk of triple-negative breast cancer.

Breast cancer is a common disease partially caused by genetic risk factors. Germline pathogenic variants in DNA repair genes BRCA1, BRCA2, PALB2, ATM, and CHEK2 are associated with breast cancer risk. FANCM, which encodes for a DNA translocase, has been proposed as a breast cancer predisposition gene, with greater effects for the ER-negative and triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC) subtypes. We tested the three recurrent protein-truncating variants FANCM:p.Arg658*, p.Gln1701*, and p.Arg1931* for association with breast cancer risk in 67,112 cases, 53,766 controls, and 26,662 carriers of pathogenic variants of BRCA1 or BRCA2. These three variants were also studied functionally by measuring survival and chromosome fragility in FANCM -/- patient-derived immortalized fibroblasts treated with diepoxybutane or olaparib. We observed that FANCM:p.Arg658* was associated with increased risk of ER-negative disease and TNBC (OR = 2.44, P = 0.034 and OR = 3.79; P = 0.009, respectively). In a country-restricted analysis, we confirmed the associations detected for FANCM:p.Arg658* and found that also FANCM:p.Arg1931* was associated with ER-negative breast cancer risk (OR = 1.96; P = 0.006). The functional results indicated that all three variants were deleterious affecting cell survival and chromosome stability with FANCM:p.Arg658* causing more severe phenotypes. In conclusion, we confirmed that the two rare FANCM deleterious variants p.Arg658* and p.Arg1931* are risk factors for ER-negative and TNBC subtypes. Overall our data suggest that the effect of truncating variants on breast cancer risk may depend on their position in the gene. Cell sensitivity to olaparib exposure, identifies a possible therapeutic option to treat FANCM-associated tumors.

Publisher Correction: Shared heritability and functional enrichment across six solid cancers.

An amendment to this paper has been published and can be accessed via a link at the top of the paper.

Shared heritability and functional enrichment across six solid cancers.

Quantifying the genetic correlation between cancers can provide important insights into the mechanisms driving cancer etiology. Using genome-wide association study summary statistics across six cancer types based on a total of 296,215 cases and 301,319 controls of European ancestry, here we estimate the pair-wise genetic correlations between breast, colorectal, head/neck, lung, ovary and prostate cancer, and between cancers and 38 other diseases. We observed statistically significant genetic correlations between lung and head/neck cancer (rg = 0.57, p = 4.6 × 10-8), breast and ovarian cancer (rg = 0.24, p = 7 × 10-5), breast and lung cancer (rg = 0.18, p =1.5 × 10-6) and breast and colorectal cancer (rg = 0.15, p = 1.1 × 10-4). We also found that multiple cancers are genetically correlated with non-cancer traits including smoking, psychiatric diseases and metabolic characteristics. Functional enrichment analysis revealed a significant excess contribution of conserved and regulatory regions to cancer heritability. Our comprehensive analysis of cross-cancer heritability suggests that solid tumors arising across tissues share in part a common germline genetic basis.

Genome-wide associations for benign prostatic hyperplasia reveal a genetic correlation with serum levels of PSA.

Benign prostatic hyperplasia and associated lower urinary tract symptoms (BPH/LUTS) are common conditions affecting the majority of elderly males. Here we report the results of a genome-wide association study of symptomatic BPH/LUTS in 20,621 patients and 280,541 controls of European ancestry, from Iceland and the UK. We discovered 23 genome-wide significant variants, located at 14 loci. There is little or no overlap between the BPH/LUTS variants and published prostate cancer risk variants. However, 15 of the variants reported here also associate with serum levels of prostate specific antigen (PSA) (at a Bonferroni corrected P < 0.0022). Furthermore, there is a strong genetic correlation, rg = 0.77 (P = 2.6 × 10-11), between PSA and BPH/LUTS, and one standard deviation increase in a polygenic risk score (PRS) for BPH/LUTS increases PSA levels by 12.9% (P = 1.6×10-55). These results shed a light on the genetic background of BPH/LUTS and its substantial influence on PSA levels.