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. 2015 Oct 27:6:8690.
doi: 10.1038/ncomms9690.

Identification of four new susceptibility loci for testicular germ cell tumour

Affiliations

Identification of four new susceptibility loci for testicular germ cell tumour

Kevin Litchfield et al. Nat Commun. .

Abstract

Genome-wide association studies (GWAS) have identified multiple risk loci for testicular germ cell tumour (TGCT), revealing a polygenic model of disease susceptibility strongly influenced by common variation. To identify additional single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) associated with TGCT, we conducted a multistage GWAS with a combined data set of >25,000 individuals (6,059 cases and 19,094 controls). We identified new risk loci for TGCT at 3q23 (rs11705932, TFDP2, P=1.5 × 10(-9)), 11q14.1 (rs7107174, GAB2, P=9.7 × 10(-11)), 16p13.13 (rs4561483, GSPT1, P=1.6 × 10(-8)) and 16q24.2 (rs55637647, ZFPM1, P=3.4 × 10(-9)). We additionally present detailed functional analysis of these loci, identifying a statistically significant relationship between rs4561483 risk genotype and increased GSPT1 expression in TGCT patient samples. These findings provide additional support for a polygenic model of TGCT risk and further insight into the biological basis of disease development.

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Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1. Study design, genotyping conducted over three stages, comprising non-overlapping samples from the UK.
Imputation was performed on stage 1 GWAS data set.
Figure 2
Figure 2. Regional plots of the four new TGCT loci.
(ad) Shown by triangles are the −log10 association P values of genotyped SNPs, based on meta-analysis (three-stage data for sentinel SNPs) and stages 1/2 for all other SNPs. Shown by circles are imputed SNPs at each locus, which were imputed from the stage 1 data set. The intensity of red shading indicates the strength of LD with the sentinel SNP (labeled). Also shown are the SNP build 37 coordinates in mega-bases (Mb), recombination rates in centi-morgans (cM) per mega-base (Mb) (in light blue) and the genes in the region (in dark blue). The zoomed-in section displays the exact LD block for each SNP, with the sentinel SNP marked with a red triangle, any significant regulatory markers denoted with a red circle and the chromHMM prediction states coloured as per the legend.
Figure 3
Figure 3. Population distribution of polygenic risk scores for TGCT, ordered from lowest to highest genetic risk (risk is relative to population median risk).
Relative risk is plotted as a blue line, lifetime risk as red bars. Values are marked for individuals in the top 1% of highest genetic risk.

References

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Supplementary concepts