Researchers have identified three new genetic risk factors linked to
colorectal cancer in East Asians.
Scientists have identified three
new genetic risk factors linked to colorectal cancer in East Asians, which may
reveal new insights into the biology and potential therapeutic targets of the
disease.
Despite being one of the most
commonly diagnosed malignancies in East Asia, the genetics of colorectal cancer
has not been well established yet. To date, rare genetic variants linked to
this malignancy only account for less than six percent of colorectal cancer
cases. In addition, genetic risk factors relevant to the Asian populations are
not well studied as previous genetic studies have mainly focused on European
populations.
Here, researchers from China,
Japan, and South Korea established the Asia Colorectal Cancer Consortium (ACCC)
that looked at novel genetic risk factors for colorectal cancer. This
genome-wide association study, published recently in Nature Genetics,
reports some of the findings made by the ACCC researchers.
Using genomic data from 2,098
colorectal cancer samples and 5,749 control samples, the team shortlisted 64
potential variants, or single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs), linked to
colorectal cancer.
After replicating their findings
in an independent set of samples they narrowed down the list to four, and three
of the four variants were found associated with colorectal cancer in a large
European population.
The investigators noted a weaker
association with these variants in the European population, which made them
believe that the genetic variants driving the disease might be different for
the Asian and European ancestry.
Critical genes linked to cancer
are found located close to the four risk variants identified by this study, the
authors found. One of them is the gene encoding cyclin D2, CCND2, which is
important in regulating the cell cycle machinery. Dysregulation of the cell
cycle leads to tumor formation, and cyclins have been frequently linked to
cancer. As current studies on CCND2 are few, the study suggested the need for
more extensive research on the role of cyclins in the development of colorectal
cancer.
“These new discoveries are very
exciting,” said Wei Zheng, M.D., Ph.D., MPH, senior author of the study. “They
will certainly lead to future studies regarding the biology of these regions
and the translational potential of these findings in cancer prevention and
treatment.”
The article can be found
at: Jia WH et al. (2012) Genome-wide
association analyses in east Asians identify new susceptibility loci for
colorectal cancer.
Source: Vanderbilt University Medical
Center;
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