Published February 1, 2021 | Version v1
Journal article Open

A multilayered post-GWAS assessment on genetic susceptibility to pancreatic cancer

Creators

  • 1. Genetic and Molecular Epidemiology Group, Spanish National Cancer Research Center (CNIO), C/Melchor Fernandez Almagro 3, 28029, Madrid, Spain
  • 2. CNAG-CRG, Centre for Genomic Regulation (CRG), Barcelona Institute of Science and Technology (BIST), Barcelona, Spain
  • 3. ARC-Net Centre for Applied Research on Cancer and Department of Pathology and Diagnostics, University and Hospital Trust of Verona, Verona, Italy
  • 4. CIBERONC, Madrid, Spain
  • 5. Madrid-Norte-Sanchinarro Hospital, Madrid, Spain
  • 6. Hospital Universitari Vall d'Hebron, Vall d'Hebron Research Institute (VHIR), Barcelona, Spain
  • 7. Gastrocentrum, Karolinska Institutet and University Hospital, Stockholm, Sweden
  • 8. Department of Surgery, Technical University of Munich, Munich, Germany
  • 9. Department of Surgery, Hospital 12 de Octubre, and Department of Surgery and Health Research Institute, Fundación Jiménez Díaz, Madrid, Spain
  • 10. Centre for Public Health, Queen's University Belfast, Belfast, UK
  • 11. Molecular Genetics Laboratory, General University Hospital of Elche, Elche, Spain
  • 12. Department of Medicine, Instituto Universitario de Oncología del Principado de Asturias (IUOPA), Instituto de Investigación Sanitaria del Principado de Asturias (ISPA), Oviedo, Spain
  • 13. Department of Gastroenterology and Clinical Biochemistry, Hospital de la Santa Creu i Sant Pau, Barcelona, Spain
  • 14. Barts Cancer Institute, Centre for Molecular Oncology, Queen Mary University of London, London, UK
  • 15. Department of Gastroenterology, University Clinical Hospital of Santiago de Compostela, Santiago de Compostela, Spain
  • 16. Department of Gastroenterology, University Hospital of Giessen and Marburg, Marburg, Germany
  • 17. Department of Molecular and Clinical Cancer Medicine, University of Liverpool, Liverpool, UK
  • 18. National Cancer Registry Ireland and HRB Clinical Research Facility, University College Cork, Cork, Ireland
  • 19. Centre for Stem Cell Research and Developmental Biology, University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark
  • 20. Department of Medical Epidemiology and Biostatistics, Karolinska Institutet, Stokholm, Sweden
  • 21. Division of Cancer Epidemiology and Genetics, National Cancer Institute, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD, USA
  • 22. CIBERESP, Madrid, Spain
  • 23. Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, New York University School of Medicine, New York, NY, USA
  • 24. Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, University of California, San Francisco, CA, USA
  • 25. International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC), Lyon, France
  • 26. Deparment for Determinants of Chronic Diseases (DCD), National Institute for Public Health and the Environment (RIVM), Bilthoven, The Netherlands
  • 27. Division of Preventive Medicine, Brigham and Women's Hospital, Boston, MA, USA
  • 28. Genomic Epidemiology Group, German Cancer Research Center (DKFZ, Heidelberg, Germany
  • 29. Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, New York, NY, USA
  • 30. Prosserman Centre for Population Health Research, Lunenfeld-Tanenbaum Research Institute, Sinai Health System, Toronto, ON, Canada
  • 31. Departments of Medicine, Brigham and Women's Hospital, VA Boston and Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA
  • 32. SWOG Statistical Center, Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, Seattle, WA, USA
  • 33. Cancer Epidemiology Program, University of Hawaii Cancer Center, Honolulu, HI, USA
  • 34. University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, TX, USA
  • 35. Population Health Department, QIMR Berghofer Medical Research Institute, Brisbane, Queensland, Australia
  • 36. Division of Public Health Sciences, Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, Seattle, WA, USA
  • 37. Department of Health Sciences Research, Mayo Clinic College of Medicine, Rochester, MN, USA
  • 38. Department of Chronic Disease Epidemiology, Yale School of Public Health, New Haven, CT, USA
  • 39. Escuela Andaluza de Salud Pública (EASP), Granada, Spain
  • 40. Division of Epidemiology, Department of Medicine, Vanderbilt Epidemiology Center, Vanderbilt-Ingram Cancer Center, Vanderbilt University School of Medicine, Nashville, TN, USA
  • 41. Centre for Cancer Genetic Epidemiology, Department of Public Health and Primary Care, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK
  • 42. Department Medical Oncology, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Boston, USA
  • 43. Department of Oncology, Sidney Kimmel Comprehensive Cancer Center, Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD, USA
  • 44. Laboratory of Translational Genomics, Division of Cancer Epidemiology and Genetics, National Cancer Institute, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD, USA
  • 45. National Centre for Genomic Analysis (CNAG), Centre for Genomic Regulation (CRG), Barcelona Institute of Science and Technology (BIST), Universitat Pompeu Fabra (UPF), ICREA, Baldiri Reixac 4, 08028, Barcelona, Spain

Description

Background: Pancreatic cancer (PC) is a complex disease in which both non-genetic and genetic factors interplay. To date, 40 GWAS hits have been associated with PC risk in individuals of European descent, explaining 4.1% of the phenotypic variance.

Methods: We complemented a new conventional PC GWAS (1D) with genome spatial autocorrelation analysis (2D) permitting to prioritize low frequency variants not detected by GWAS. These were further expanded via Hi-C map (3D) interactions to gain additional insight into the inherited basis of PC. In silico functional analysis of public genomic information allowed prioritization of potentially relevant candidate variants.

Results: We identified several new variants located in genes for which there is experimental evidence of their implication in the biology and function of pancreatic acinar cells. Among them is a novel independent variant in NR5A2 (rs3790840) with a meta-analysis p value = 5.91E−06 in 1D approach and a Local Moran's Index (LMI) = 7.76 in 2D approach. We also identified a multi-hit region in CASC8—a lncRNA associated with pancreatic carcinogenesis—with a lowest p value = 6.91E−05. Importantly, two new PC loci were identified both by 2D and 3D approaches: SIAH3 (LMI = 18.24), CTRB2/BCAR1 (LMI = 6.03), in addition to a chromatin interacting region in XBP1—a major regulator of the ER stress and unfolded protein responses in acinar cells—identified by 3D; all of them with a strong in silico functional support.

Conclusions: This multi-step strategy, combined with an in-depth in silico functional analysis, offers a comprehensive approach to advance the study of PC genetic susceptibility and could be applied to other diseases.

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Additional details

Funding

EPC-TM-NET – Targeting the tumour microenvironment to improve pancreatic cancer prognosis 256974
European Commission
CANCERALIA – Development of novel diagnostic and therapeutic approaches to improve patient outcome in lung and pancreatic tumours 259737
European Commission