Multiethnic genome‐wide association study of differentiated thyroid cancer in the EPITHYR consortium. Issue 12 (24th February 2021) - Truong, Thérèse
Abstract: Incidence of differentiated thyroid carcinoma (DTC) varies considerably between ethnic groups, with particularly high incidence rates in Pacific Islanders. DTC is one of the cancers with the highest familial risk suggesting a major role of genetic risk factors, but only few susceptibility loci were identified so far. In order to assess the contribution of known DTC susceptibility loci and to identify new ones, we conducted a multiethnic genome‐wide association study (GWAS) in individuals of European ancestry and of Oceanian ancestry from Pacific Islands. Our study included 1554 cases/1973 controls of European ancestry and 301 cases/348 controls of Oceanian ancestry from seven population‐based case‐control studies participating to the EPITHYR consortium. All participants were genotyped using the OncoArray‐500K Beadchip (Illumina). We confirmed the association with the known DTC susceptibility loci at 2q35, 8p12, 9q22.33 and 14q13.3 in the European ancestry population and suggested two novel signals at 1p31.3 and 16q23.2, which were associated with thyroid‐stimulating hormone levels in previous GWAS. We additionally replicated an association with 5p15.33 reported previously in Chinese and European populations. Except at 1p31.3, all associations were in the same direction in the population of Oceanian ancestry. We also observed that the frequencies of risk alleles at 2q35, 5p15.33 and 16q23.2 were significantly higher in Oceanians than in Europeans. However, additional GWAS and epidemiological studies in Oceanian populations are needed to fully understand the highest incidence observed in these populations. Abstract : What's new? Differentiated thyroid carcinoma (DTC) has a strong genetic component, and Pacific Islanders have a particularly high incidence of the disease. Here, the authors conducted a genome‐wide association study (GWAS) in a mixed population including individuals of European and Pacific Islander ancestry. The study drew from the EPITHYR consortium, a collection of 2000 DTC cases and age‐matched controls. The analysis confirmed 5 previously known susceptibility loci and identified 2 new ones. Three of these loci were more prevalent among Pacific Islanders. More studies are needed to fully account for the rate of DTC in that population.