Aggregation tests identify new gene associations with breast cancer in populations with diverse ancestry

Stefanie H. Mueller, Alvina G. Lai, Maria Valkovskaya, Kyriaki Michailidou, Manjeet K. Bolla, Qin Wang, Joe Dennis, Michael Lush, Zomoruda Abu-Ful, Thomas U. Ahearn, Irene L. Andrulis, Hoda Anton-Culver, Natalia N. Antonenkova, Volker Arndt, Kristan J. Aronson, Annelie Augustinsson, Thais Baert, Laura E.Beane Freeman, Matthias W. Beckmann, Sabine BehrensJavier Benitez, Marina Bermisheva, Carl Blomqvist, Natalia V. Bogdanova, Stig E. Bojesen, Bernardo Bonanni, Hermann Brenner, Sara Y. Brucker, Saundra S. Buys, Jose E. Castelao, Tsun L. Chan, Jenny Chang-Claude, Stephen J. Chanock, Ji Yeob Choi, Wendy K. Chung, Kristine K. Sahlberg, Anne Lise Børresen-Dale, Lars Ottestad, Rolf Kåresen, Ellen Schlichting, Marit Muri Holmen, Toril Sauer, Vilde Haakensen, Olav Engebråten, Bjørn Naume, Alexander Fosså, Margit Riis, Henrik Flyger, Yu Tang Gao, Christopher Scott, NBCS Collaborators, CTS Consortium, ABCTB Investigators

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Abstract

Background: Low-frequency variants play an important role in breast cancer (BC) susceptibility. Gene-based methods can increase power by combining multiple variants in the same gene and help identify target genes. Methods: We evaluated the potential of gene-based aggregation in the Breast Cancer Association Consortium cohorts including 83,471 cases and 59,199 controls. Low-frequency variants were aggregated for individual genes’ coding and regulatory regions. Association results in European ancestry samples were compared to single-marker association results in the same cohort. Gene-based associations were also combined in meta-analysis across individuals with European, Asian, African, and Latin American and Hispanic ancestry. Results: In European ancestry samples, 14 genes were significantly associated (q < 0.05) with BC. Of those, two genes, FMNL3 (P = 6.11 × 10−6) and AC058822.1 (P = 1.47 × 10−4), represent new associations. High FMNL3 expression has previously been linked to poor prognosis in several other cancers. Meta-analysis of samples with diverse ancestry discovered further associations including established candidate genes ESR1 and CBLB. Furthermore, literature review and database query found further support for a biologically plausible link with cancer for genes CBLB, FMNL3, FGFR2, LSP1, MAP3K1, and SRGAP2C. Conclusions: Using extended gene-based aggregation tests including coding and regulatory variation, we report identification of plausible target genes for previously identified single-marker associations with BC as well as the discovery of novel genes implicated in BC development. Including multi ancestral cohorts in this study enabled the identification of otherwise missed disease associations as ESR1 (P = 1.31 × 10−5), demonstrating the importance of diversifying study cohorts.

OriginalsprogEngelsk
Artikelnummer7
TidsskriftGenome Medicine
Vol/bind15
Udgave nummer1
Antal sider18
ISSN1756-994X
DOI
StatusUdgivet - 2023

Bibliografisk note

Funding Information:
This result is part of a project that has received funding from the European Research Council (ERC) under the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme (Grant agreement No. 948561).

Funding Information:
BCAC is funded by the European Union’s Horizon 2020 Research and Innovation Programme (grant numbers 634935 and 633,784 for BRIDGES and B-CAST respectively), and the PERSPECTIVE I&I project, funded by the Government of Canada through Genome Canada and the Canadian Institutes of Health Research, the Ministère de l’Économie et de l'Innovation du Québec through Genome Québec, the Quebec Breast Cancer Foundation. The EU Horizon 2020 Research and Innovation Programme funding source had no role in study design, data collection, data analysis, data interpretation, or writing of the report. Additional funding for BCAC is provided via the Confluence project which is funded with intramural funds from the National Cancer Institute Intramural Research Program, National Institutes of Health.

Publisher Copyright:
© 2023, The Author(s).

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