Sie befinden Sich nicht im Netzwerk der Universität Paderborn. Der Zugriff auf elektronische Ressourcen ist gegebenenfalls nur via VPN oder Shibboleth (DFN-AAI) möglich. mehr Informationen...
GWAS identifies oncogene
A genome-wide association study (GWAS) has shown that single nucleotide variants within the
LMO1
locus are associated with inherited susceptibility to neuroblastoma, a childhood cancer of the sympathetic nervous system.
LMO1
encodes a transcriptional regulator previously linked to cancers. Acquired structural variation in the same locus is common in patients with neuroblastoma, suggesting that loci identified through GWAS approaches might also be prone to somatic alterations that influence tumour progression. Such studies could help to identify potential therapy targets and/or biomarkers of cancer aggressiveness.
Here, single nucleotide variants within the
LMO1
locus are shown to be associated with inherited susceptibility to neuroblastoma, a childhood cancer of the sympathetic nervous system. Acquired structural variation in the same locus was also frequently found in neuroblastoma patients, leading to the suggestion that loci identified through genome-wide association studies might be also prone to somatic alterations and therefore identify potential therapy targets and/or biomarkers of tumour aggressiveness.
Neuroblastoma is a childhood cancer of the sympathetic nervous system that accounts for approximately 10% of all paediatric oncology deaths
1
,
2
. To identify genetic risk factors for neuroblastoma, we performed a genome-wide association study (GWAS) on 2,251 patients and 6,097 control subjects of European ancestry from four case series. Here we report a significant association within LIM domain only 1 (
LMO1
) at 11p15.4 (rs110419, combined
P
= 5.2 × 10
−16
, odds ratio of risk allele = 1.34 (95% confidence interval 1.25–1.44)). The signal was enriched in the subset of patients with the most aggressive form of the disease.
LMO1
encodes a cysteine-rich transcriptional regulator, and its paralogues (
LMO2
,
LMO3
and
LMO4
) have each been previously implicated in cancer. In parallel, we analysed genome-wide DNA copy number alterations in 701 primary tumours. We found that the
LMO1
locus was aberrant in 12.4% through a duplication event, and that this event was associated with more advanced disease (
P
< 0.0001) and survival (
P
= 0.041). The germline single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) risk alleles and somatic copy number gains were associated with increased
LMO1
expression in neuroblastoma cell lines and primary tumours, consistent with a gain-of-function role in tumorigenesis. Short hairpin RNA (shRNA)-mediated depletion of
LMO1
inhibited growth of neuroblastoma cells with high
LMO1
expression, whereas forced expression of
LMO1
in neuroblastoma cells with low
LMO1
expression enhanced proliferation. These data show that common polymorphisms at the
LMO1
locus are strongly associated with susceptibility to developing neuroblastoma, but also may influence the likelihood of further somatic alterations at this locus, leading to malignant progression.