Genome-wide association study of prostate cancer in men of African ancestry identifies a susceptibility locus at 17q21

Abstract

In search of common risk alleles for prostate cancer that could contribute to high rates of the disease in men of African ancestry, we conducted a genome-wide association study, with 1,047,986 SNP markers examined in 3,425 African-Americans with prostate cancer (cases) and 3,290 African-American male controls. We followed up the most significant 17 new associations from stage 1 in 1,844 cases and 3,269 controls of African ancestry. We identified a new risk variant on chromosome 17q21 (rs7210100, odds ratio per allele = 1.51, P = 3.4 × 10(-13)). The frequency of the risk allele is ∼5% in men of African descent, whereas it is rare in other populations (<1%). Further studies are needed to investigate the biological contribution of this allele to prostate cancer risk. These findings emphasize the importance of conducting genome-wide association studies in diverse populations.

Figure 1

A plot of the −log₁₀ P-values by chromosome.

Figure 2

A regional plot of the −log₁₀ P-values for genotyped (squares) and imputed (circles) SNPs at the chromosome 17q21 risk locus in the stage 1 African American sample. The shading depicts the strength of the correlation (r²) between SNP rs7210100 and the SNPs tested in the region. The correlation is estimated in the YRI population from the 1000 Genomes Project (June 2010). Also shown are human genome build 18 coordinates (Mb), recombination rates in centimorgans (cM) per megabase (Mb) and genes in the region. The plot was generate using LocusZoom.