Melbourne School of Population and Global Health - Research Publications

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    Heterogeneity of breast cancer associations with five susceptibility loci by clinical and pathological characteristics
    Garcia-Closas, M ; Hall, P ; Nevanlinna, H ; Pooley, K ; Morrison, J ; Richesson, DA ; Bojesen, SE ; Nordestgaard, BG ; Axelsson, CK ; Arias, JI ; Milne, RL ; Ribas, G ; Gonzalez-Neira, A ; Benitez, J ; Zamora, P ; Brauch, H ; Justenhoven, C ; Hamann, U ; Ko, Y-D ; Bruening, T ; Haas, S ; Doerk, T ; Schuermann, P ; Hillemanns, P ; Bogdanova, N ; Bremer, M ; Karstens, JH ; Fagerholm, R ; Aaltonen, K ; Aittomaki, K ; Von Smitten, K ; Blomqvist, C ; Mannermaa, A ; Uusitupa, M ; Eskelinen, M ; Tengstrom, M ; Kosma, V-M ; Kataja, V ; Chenevix-Trench, G ; Spurdle, AB ; Beesley, J ; Chen, X ; Devilee, P ; Van Asperen, CJ ; Jacobi, CE ; Tollenaar, RAEM ; Huijts, PEA ; Klijn, JGM ; Chang-Claude, J ; Kropp, S ; Slanger, T ; Flesch-Janys, D ; Mutschelknauss, E ; Salazar, R ; Wang-Gohrke, S ; Couch, F ; Goode, EL ; Olson, JE ; Vachon, C ; Fredericksen, ZS ; Giles, GG ; Baglietto, L ; Severi, G ; Hopper, JL ; English, DR ; Southey, MC ; Haiman, CA ; Henderson, BE ; Kolonel, LN ; Le Marchand, L ; Stram, DO ; Hunter, DJ ; Hankinson, SE ; Cox, DG ; Tamimi, R ; Kraft, P ; Sherman, ME ; Chanock, SJ ; Lissowska, J ; Brinton, LA ; Peplonska, B ; Klijn, JGM ; Hooning, MJ ; Meijers-Heijboer, H ; Collee, JM ; Van den Ouweland, A ; Uitterlinden, AG ; Liu, J ; Lin, LY ; Yuqing, L ; Humphreys, K ; Czene, K ; Cox, A ; Balasubramanian, SP ; Cross, SS ; Reed, MWR ; Blows, F ; Driver, K ; Dunning, A ; Tyrer, J ; Ponder, BAJ ; Sangrajrang, S ; Brennan, P ; Mckay, J ; Odefrey, F ; Gabrieau, V ; Sigurdson, A ; Doody, M ; Struewing, JP ; Alexander, B ; Easton, DF ; Pharoah, PD ; Leal, SM (PUBLIC LIBRARY SCIENCE, 2008-04)
    A three-stage genome-wide association study recently identified single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in five loci (fibroblast growth receptor 2 (FGFR2), trinucleotide repeat containing 9 (TNRC9), mitogen-activated protein kinase 3 K1 (MAP3K1), 8q24, and lymphocyte-specific protein 1 (LSP1)) associated with breast cancer risk. We investigated whether the associations between these SNPs and breast cancer risk varied by clinically important tumor characteristics in up to 23,039 invasive breast cancer cases and 26,273 controls from 20 studies. We also evaluated their influence on overall survival in 13,527 cases from 13 studies. All participants were of European or Asian origin. rs2981582 in FGFR2 was more strongly related to ER-positive (per-allele OR (95%CI) = 1.31 (1.27-1.36)) than ER-negative (1.08 (1.03-1.14)) disease (P for heterogeneity = 10(-13)). This SNP was also more strongly related to PR-positive, low grade and node positive tumors (P = 10(-5), 10(-8), 0.013, respectively). The association for rs13281615 in 8q24 was stronger for ER-positive, PR-positive, and low grade tumors (P = 0.001, 0.011 and 10(-4), respectively). The differences in the associations between SNPs in FGFR2 and 8q24 and risk by ER and grade remained significant after permutation adjustment for multiple comparisons and after adjustment for other tumor characteristics. Three SNPs (rs2981582, rs3803662, and rs889312) showed weak but significant associations with ER-negative disease, the strongest association being for rs3803662 in TNRC9 (1.14 (1.09-1.21)). rs13281615 in 8q24 was associated with an improvement in survival after diagnosis (per-allele HR = 0.90 (0.83-0.97). The association was attenuated and non-significant after adjusting for known prognostic factors. Our findings show that common genetic variants influence the pathological subtype of breast cancer and provide further support for the hypothesis that ER-positive and ER-negative disease are biologically distinct. Understanding the etiologic heterogeneity of breast cancer may ultimately result in improvements in prevention, early detection, and treatment.
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    An international initiative to identify genetic modifiers of cancer risk in BRCA1 and BRCA2 mutation carriers:: the Consortium of Investigators of Modifiers of BRCA1 and BRCA2(CIMBA)
    Chenevix-Trench, G ; Milne, RL ; Antoniou, AC ; Couch, FJ ; Easton, DF ; Goldgar, DE (BIOMED CENTRAL LTD, 2007)
    BRCA1 and BRCA2 mutations exhibit variable penetrance that is likely to be accounted for, in part, by other genetic factors among carriers. However, studies aimed at identifying these factors have been limited in size and statistical power, and have yet to identify any convincingly validated modifiers of the BRCA1 and BRCA2 phenotype. To generate sufficient statistical power to identify modifier genes, the Consortium of Investigators of Modifiers of BRCA1 and BRCA2 (CIMBA) has been established. CIMBA contains about 30 affiliated groups who together have collected DNA and clinical data from approximately 10,000 BRCA1 and 5,000 BRCA2 mutation carriers. Initial efforts by CIMBA to identify modifiers of breast cancer risk for BRCA1 and BRCA2 mutation carriers have focused on validation of common genetic variants previously associated with risk in smaller studies of carriers or unselected breast cancers. Future studies will involve replication of findings from pathway-based and genome-wide association studies in both unselected and familial breast cancer. The identification of genetic modifiers of breast cancer risk for BRCA1 and BRCA2 mutation carriers will lead to an improved understanding of breast cancer and may prove useful for the determination of individualized risk of cancer amongst carriers.
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    CYP17 genetic polymorphism, breast cancer, and breast cancer risk factors:: Australian Breast Cancer Family Study
    Chang, JH ; Gertig, DM ; Chen, XQ ; Dite, GS ; Jenkins, MA ; Milne, RL ; Southey, MC ; McCredie, MRE ; Giles, GG ; Chenevix-Trench, G ; Hopper, JL ; Spurdle, AB (BMC, 2005)
    INTRODUCTION: Because CYP17 can influence the degree of exposure of breast tissues to oestrogen, the interaction between polymorphisms in this gene and hormonal risk factors is of particular interest. We attempted to replicate the findings of studies assessing such interactions with the -34T-->C polymorphism. METHODS: Risk factor and CYP17 genotyping data were derived from a large Australian population-based case-control-family study of 1,284 breast cancer cases and 679 controls. Crude and adjusted odds ratio (OR) estimates and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) were calculated by unconditional logistic regression analyses. RESULTS: We found no associations between the CYP17 genotype and breast cancer overall. Premenopausal controls with A2/A2 genotype had a later age at menarche (P < 0.01). The only associations near statistical significance were that postmenopausal women with A1/A1 (wild-type) genotype had an increased risk of breast cancer if they had ever used hormone replacement therapy (OR 2.40, 95% CI 1.0 to 5.7; P = 0.05) and if they had menopause after age 47 years (OR 2.59, 95% CI 1.0 to 7.0; P = 0.06). We found no associations in common with any other studies, and no evidence for interactions. CONCLUSION: We observed no evidence of effect modification of reproductive risk factors by CYP17 genotype, although the experiment did not have sufficient statistical power to detect small main effects and modest effects in subgroups. Associations found only in subgroup analyses based on relatively small numbers require cautious interpretation without confirmation by other studies. This emphasizes the need for replication in multiple and large population-based studies to provide convincing evidence for gene-environment interactions.