ABSTRACT
The genetic etiology of nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC) and mechanisms for inherited susceptibility remain unclear. To examine genetic risk factors for NPC, we hypothesized that heritable risk is attributable to cumulative effects of multiple common low-risk variants. With the premise that individual SNPs only confer subtle effects for cancer risk, a multigenic pathway-based approach was used to systematically examine associations between NPC genetic susceptibility with SNPs in genes in DNA repair pathways and from previously identified cancer genome-wide association study analyses. This case-control study covers 161 genes/loci and focuses on pathway-based analyses in 2,349 Hong Kong individuals, allowing stratification according to NPC familial status for meaningful association analysis. Three SNPs (rs401681, rs6774494 and rs3757318) corresponding to TERT/CLPTM1L (OR 95% CI = 0.77, 0.68-0.88), MDS1-EVI1 (OR 95% CI=0.79 0.69-0.89) and CCDC170 (OR 95% CI = 0.76, 0.66-0.86) conferred modest protective effects individually for NPC risk by the logistic regression analysis after multiple testing adjustment (p(Bonferroni) < 0.05). Stratification of NPC according to familial status identified rs2380165 in BLM (OR 95% CI = 1.49, 1.20-1.86, p(Bonferroni) < 0.05) association with family history-positive NPC (FH+ NPC) patients. Multiple SNPs pathway-based analysis revealed that the combined gene dosage effects for increasing numbers of unfavorable genotypes in TERT-CLPTM1L and double-strand break repair (DSBR) conferred elevated risk in FH+ and sporadic NPC patients (ORs per allele, 95% CIs = 1.37, 1.22-1.55, p(Bonferroni) = 5.00 × 10(-6); 1.17, 1.09-1.26, p(Bonferroni) = 4.58 × 10(-4) , respectively, in TERT/NHEJ pathways). Our data suggested cumulative increased NPC risk associations with TERT-CLPTM1L and DSBR pathways contribute to genetic susceptibility to NPC and have potential translational relevance for patient stratification and therapeutics.
Subject(s)
Biomarkers, Tumor/genetics , DNA Breaks, Double-Stranded , DNA Repair/genetics , Membrane Proteins/genetics , Multigene Family , Nasopharyngeal Neoplasms/genetics , Neoplasm Proteins/genetics , Polymorphism, Single Nucleotide/genetics , Telomerase/genetics , Carcinoma , Case-Control Studies , Female , Follow-Up Studies , Gene Expression Profiling , Genotype , Humans , Male , Middle Aged , Nasopharyngeal Carcinoma , Oligonucleotide Array Sequence Analysis , Prognosis , Risk Factors , Signal TransductionABSTRACT
Our previous studies of chromosome 14 transfer into tumorigenic esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC) cell line, SLMT, suggested the existence of tumor suppressor genes on chromosome 14. Gene expression profiling of microcell hybrids and the tumor segregants identified an interesting gene, LTBP-2 (latent transforming growth factor ß binding protein 2), which has been analyzed here for its role in ESCC. LTBP-2 maps to 14q24 and encodes a secreted protein, which is a component of the extracellular matrix microfibrils. LTBP-2 expression was downregulated in ESCC cell lines and tumor tissues. Promoter hypermethylation was found to be involved in LTBP-2 inactivation. Functional studies indicated its tumor-suppressive roles in ESCC. In the in vitro colony formation and Matrigel three-dimensional culture assays, LTBP-2 decreased the colony-forming abilities of ESCC cell lines. LTBP-2 expression was associated with reduction of cell migrating and invasive abilities. LTBP-2 could also reduce the tube-forming ability of endothelial cells. Moreover, LTBP-2 induced tumor suppression in in vivo nude mouse assays. Tissue microarray immunohistochemical staining analysis indicated that LTBP-2 expression is reduced in tumor tissues when compared to normal tissues, and LTBP-2 expression correlated significantly with the survival of ESCC patients. Thus, LTBP-2 appears to play an important role in ESCC.