Genome-wide association studies (GWAS) of colorectal cancer (CRC) have been instrumental in identifying a number of common susceptibility loci in Non Hispanic (NH)-White populations and a NCI priority is to extend GWAS findings to other populations to address racial/ethnic disparities in cancer susceptibility. Currently, GWA studies of CRC in NH-Whites, Japanese and African-Americans are ongoing. We propose a complementary study to address this critical research area in Hispanics. Hispanics represent the fastest growing ethnic population in the U.S. and have been largely understudied in terms of genetic susceptibility to cancer. There are noted differences in incidence, survival and mortality in CRC by ethnic/racial groups. Hispanics often present with CRC at a younger age and have a significantly greater incidence of stage IV tumors or metastatic disease compared to NH-Whites. We propose to conduct a large, cost-efficient, population-based GWAS in Hispanics by building upon existing NIH-funded resources, the Colon Cancer Family Registry (Colon CFR) and the Multiethnic Cohort Study (MEC). We plan to recruit 2,500 Hispanic men and women diagnosed with CRC between 01/2010 to 10/2013 using cancer registries in California. Risk factor/diet questionnaires, pathology reports, Oragene buccal samples (for genotyping) and tumor blocks (for MSI testing) will be collected using methodologies developed in the Colon CFR/MEC. Cases of CRC in the MEC (currently 473;anticipated 600 at end) will also be included. Population-based Hispanic individuals without a diagnosis of CRC participating in other GWA studies in the MEC (n=3,900, U01HG004726, Haiman) will be used as controls. We will genotype all 3,100 cases using the Illumina 1M array and use available genotype and epidemiologic data collected on 3,900 controls. Our statistical analyses will include: single-SNP and haplotype effects, gene-environment interactions and heterogeneity by MSI, tumor subtype and family history of CRC. We will replicate findings in a second-stage using CRC cases and controls from Mexico (1,000 cases and 1,000 controls, EU FP7 funding, CHIBCHA, Carvajal-Carmona/Tomlinson). We will also examine heterogeneity of the risk estimates by ethnicity/race by leveraging GWA data on NH-Whites (2,142 cases, 1,909 controls, U01 CA122839, Casey), (4,000 cases, 6,000 NH-White controls, UK-CHIBCHA, Tomlinson), Colombians (2,000 cases and 2,000 controls, CHIBCHA), Japanese (1,000 cases and 1,000 controls) and African-Americans (1,500 cases and 1,500 controls, R01CA126895, Le Marchand). We will genotype replicated significant SNPs in our main and combined analysis in several Hispanic populations (note: studies funded by EU or NIH for data collection but not GWAS) including: 800 Puerto Ricans, 2,000 Brazilians, 2,000 Argentineans and 3,000 Spanish/Portuguese to assess generalizability of findings. This study will have a high impact by addressing the key question of racial/ethnic disparities related to genetic susceptibility to CRC, and will enable further growth and investment into research among Hispanics by providing a resource of genetic data and biospecimens, which is lacking.
We propose to conduct a large population-based study to understand the role of the human genome in the etiology of colorectal cancer among Hispanics. The Hispanic population is the fastest growing ethnic population in the U.S. We also propose to investigate differences in genetic effects on risk of colorectal cancer across multiple races/ethnicities including Non-Hispanic Whites, Hispanics, Japanese and African-Americans. This study will address an important gap in genome-wide association studies of colorectal cancer in Hispanics and be able to evaluate differences in cancer susceptibility in different ethnic/racial groups.
