The first project -Genetic Modifiers of Tamoxifen-Related Breast Cancer Risk: NSABP P1G3- was a case/case analysis of 39 SNPs in 19 different genes among 249 women with invasive breast cancer (84 exposed to tamoxifen;165 placebo). This was a null study by single SNP association and haplotype analysis. However, the constellation of alleles characterizing cases emerging in the presence of tamoxifen (resistant genotypes) was distinct from that in the unexposed (placebo) cases. This published pathway analysis approach generated an allelic signature that has potential as a predictive biomarker of tamoxifen resistance. This project is now complete.Using NCI's PLCO cancer screening trial, we have been investigating the relationship between the Insulin-Like Growth Factor (IGF) Signaling Pathway and Risk of Advanced Colorectal Adenoma, prompted by data suggesting that IGFs may represent potentially modifiable cancer risk factors. We have analyzed 800 participants found to have an advanced colorectal adenoma at the time of baseline screen, and 800 matched non-adenoma subjects. 37 SNPs in 7 IGF-related genes (IGF1, IGF-BP3, ALS, IGF-1R, IGF-BP5, IGF2, GH) were genotyped, and circulating levels of IGF-1, IGF-2 and IGFBP-3 were assayed. The latter documented a 1.7-fold increase in adenoma risk (95% C.I. 1.2-2.5) in highest vs. lowest quartiles of IGF-1, controlled for IGF-2, IGF-BP3 and numerous other covariates. These data have been published. We also confirmed the previously-observed strong relationship between IGF-BP3-01 (rs2854744), and a new association between IGF-BP3-07 (rs6413441) and circulating levels of IGF-BP3 among controls. This study has been expanded by adding additional genotyping data from the DCEG Rare Cancers iSELECT study which, serendipitously, analyzed the same set of DNA samples. These data provide a more comprehensive interrogation of IGF signaling pathway genes: 1,338 advanced colorectal adenoma cases and 1,503 matched controls were studied, and data generated for 570 single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in 28 IGF pathway genes. Two SNP associations remained statistically significant after a gene-based correction for multiple testing, one in an intron of the oncogene, KRAS, was associated an increased risk of adenoma (OR per allele=1.36, 95% CI =1.13-1.63, P=0.001), and the other in the serine/threonine kinase gene, RPS6KB1, was associated with a reduced risk of adenoma (OR per allele=0.83, 95% CI=0.73-0.95, P=0.006). This project is now complete. We have developed a portfolio of projects evaluating Genetic Risk Factors for Osteogenic Sarcoma [CAS 10375]. Osteogenic sarcoma (OS), the most common malignant primary bone tumor, occurs most commonly during the adolescent growth spurt. As part of a prospective case-control study of OS initiated in 1995 with the NCI and Harvard Dental School, we studied genetic variation in many genes/pathways implicated in the cellular regulation of growth. We identified a small haplotype block that was associated with risk of OS in the IGF2R gene. This genomic region (near exon 16) consists of CpG islands, and functional analysis of the SNPs in this block suggested that a specific SNP associated with OS risk resulted in differential methylation at that SNP site. Because OS is one of the syndrome-defining malignancies in patients with germ-line TP53 mutations (i.e., the Li-Fraumeni Syndrome), we investigated the role of germ-line genetic variants in TP53 as OS risk factors. These data did not indicate a strong link between variation in TP53 and OS risk, although they did provide preliminary evidence of an increased risk of OS associated with TP53 variants IVS2+38 and Pro72Arg. We recently updated the descriptive epidemiology of OS in two separate publications: one based on US data from NCI's SEER program, and the other based on multiple international cancer epidemiology databases. We published a meta-analysis of height and birth weight as OS risk factors. The data confirmed that height is a significant risk factor for OS. The evidence related to birth weight was not definitive. We recently published the first multistage GWAS targeting OS consisting of 941 OS subjects and 3,291 cancer-free adult controls. Two loci achieved genome-wide significance: a locus in the GRM4 gene at 6p21.3 (encoding glutamate receptor metabotropic 4;rs1906953;P = 8.1 10-9) and a locus in the gene desert at 2p25.2 (rs7591996 and rs10208273;P = 1.0 10-8 and 2.9 10-7, respectively). A validation OS cohort has been assembled to confirm our observations. In addition, these two loci are now undergoing fine-mapping/re-sequencing to uncover the biological mechanisms underlying susceptibility to osteosarcoma. We contributed to a Workshop that brought together key opinion leaders and experts in the metastasis and osteosarcoma communities and which focussed on developing therapeutics that target metastatic progression. The goal of this meeting was to provide a perspective that would establish a preclinical translational path that could support the early evaluation of potential therapeutic agents that uniquely target the metastatic phenotype. The consensus achieved from the meeting included the following: the biology of metastatic progression is associated with metastasis-specific targets/processes that may not influence grossly detectable lesions;targeting of metastasis-specific processes is feasible;rigorous preclinical data are needed to support translation of metastasis-specific agents into human trials where regression of measurable disease is not an expected outcome;preclinical data should include an understanding of mechanism of action, validation of pharmacodynamic markers of effective exposure and response, the use of several murine models of effectiveness, and where feasible the inclusion of the dog with naturally occurring osteosarcoma to define the activity of new drugs in the micro-metastatic disease setting. Finally, we have contributed more than 1,000 BRCA1/2 mutation carriers accrued from three related studies (Etiologic Studies of Hereditary Breast/Ovarian Cancer [HBOC], Pilot Study of Breast MRI in HBOC, and the National Ovarian Cancer Prevention and Early Detection Study) to identify genetic modifiers of BRCA1/2-related breast and ovarian cancer. This project is a collaboration with the Consortium of Investigators of Modifiers of BRCA1/2 (CIMBA) which has yielded 32 peer-reviewed publications and an additional 7 manuscripts under review, all focused on detecting common, low-penetrance genetic variants which modify the risk of breast and ovarian cancer in the HBOC context. This project is designed to help develop more precise cancer risk stratification models which might permit more accurate cancer risk assessment in women with HBOC.
| Koster, Roelof; Panagiotou, Orestis A; Wheeler, William A et al. (2018) Genome-wide association study identifies the GLDC/IL33 locus associated with survival of osteosarcoma patients. Int J Cancer 142:1594-1601 |
| Hirt, Carsten; Camargo, M Constanza; Yu, Kelly J et al. (2015) Risk of follicular lymphoma associated with BCL2 translocations in peripheral blood. Leuk Lymphoma 56:2625-9 |
| Basavaraju, Umesh; Shebl, Fatma M; Palmer, Andrew J et al. (2015) Cytokine gene polymorphisms, cytokine levels and the risk of colorectal neoplasia in a screened population of Northeast Scotland. Eur J Cancer Prev 24:296-304 |
| Savage, Sharon A (2014) Genomic clues to ethnic differences in ALL. Blood 123:2440-2 |
| Khanna, Chand; Fan, Timothy M; Gorlick, Richard et al. (2014) Toward a drug development path that targets metastatic progression in osteosarcoma. Clin Cancer Res 20:4200-9 |
| Hirt, Carsten; Weitmann, Kerstin; Schüler, Frank et al. (2013) Circulating t(14;18)-positive cells in healthy individuals: association with age and sex but not with smoking. Leuk Lymphoma 54:2678-84 |
| Gao, Ying; Katki, Hormuzd; Graubard, Barry et al. (2012) Serum IGF1, IGF2 and IGFBP3 and risk of advanced colorectal adenoma. Int J Cancer 131:E105-13 |
| Thomas, David M; Savage, Sharon A; Bond, Gareth L (2012) Hereditary and environmental epidemiology of sarcomas. Clin Sarcoma Res 2:13 |
| Savage, Sharon A; Mirabello, Lisa (2011) Using epidemiology and genomics to understand osteosarcoma etiology. Sarcoma 2011:548151 |
| Mirabello, Lisa; Pfeiffer, Ruth; Murphy, Gwen et al. (2011) Height at diagnosis and birth-weight as risk factors for osteosarcoma. Cancer Causes Control 22:899-908 |
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