Abstract

Glioma, the most common central nervous system cancer in adults, has poor prognosis. Here we identify a new SNP associated with glioma risk, rs1920116 (near TERC), that reached genome-wide significance (Pcombined = 8.3 × 10(-9)) in a meta-analysis of genome-wide association studies (GWAS) of high-grade glioma and replication data (1,644 cases and 7,736 controls). This region has previously been associated with mean leukocyte telomere length (LTL). We therefore examined the relationship between LTL and both this new risk locus and other previously established risk loci for glioma using data from a recent GWAS of LTL (n = 37,684 individuals). Alleles associated with glioma risk near TERC and TERT were strongly associated with longer LTL (P = 5.5 × 10(-20) and 4.4 × 10(-19), respectively). In contrast, risk-associated alleles near RTEL1 were inconsistently associated with LTL, suggesting the presence of distinct causal alleles. No other risk loci for glioma were associated with LTL. The identification of risk alleles for glioma near TERC and TERT that also associate with telomere length implicates telomerase in gliomagenesis.

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TitleVariants near TERT and TERC influencing telomere length are associated with high-grade glioma risk.
DateJuly 1st, 2014
Issue nameNature genetics
Issue numberv46.7:731-5
DOI10.1038/ng.3004
PubMed24908248
AuthorsWalsh KM, Codd V, Smirnov IV, Rice T, Decker PA, Hansen HM, Kollmeyer T, Kosel ML, Molinaro AM, McCoy LS, Bracci PM, Cabriga BS, Pekmezci M, Zheng S, Wiemels JL, Pico AR, Tihan T, Berger MS, Chang SM, Prados MD, Lachance DH, O'Neill BP, Sicotte H, Eckel-Passow JE, van der Harst P, Wiencke JK, Samani NJ, Jenkins RB & Wrensch MR
InfoENGAGE Consortium Telomere Group, Codd V, Nelson CP, Albrecht E, Mangino M, Deelen J, Buxton JL, Hottenga JJ, Fischer K, Esko T, Surakka I, Broer L, Nyholt DR, Leach IM, Salo P, Hägg S, Matthews MK, Palmen J, Norata GD, O'Reilly PF, Saleheen D, Amin N, Balmforth AJ, Beekman M, de Boer RA, Böhringer S, Braund PS, Burton PR, de Craen AJ, Denniff M, Dong Y, Douroudis K, Dubinina E, Eriksson JG, Garlaschelli K, Guo D, Hartikainen AL, Henders AK, Houwing-Duistermaat JJ, Kananen L, Karssen LC, Kettunen J, Klopp N, Lagou V, van Leeuwen EM, Madden PA, Mägi R, Magnusson PK, Männistö S, McCarthy MI, Medland SE, Mihailov E, Montgomery GW, Oostra BA, Palotie A, Peters A, Pollard H, Pouta A, Prokopenko I, Ripatti S, Salomaa V, Suchiman H, Valdes AM, Verweij N, Viñuela A, Wang X, Wichmann HE, Widen E, Willemsen G, Wright MJ, Xia K, Xiao X, van Veldhuisen DJ, Catapano AL, Tobin MD, Hall AS, Blakemore AI, van Gilst WH, Zhu H, Erdmann J, Reilly MP, Kathiresan S, Schunkert H, Talmud PJ, Pedersen NL, Perola M, Ouwehand W, Kaprio J, Martin NG, van Duijn CM, Hovatta I, Gieger C, Metspalu A, Boomsma DI, Jarvelin MR, Slagboom P, Thompson JR, Spector TD, van der Harst P, Samani NJ
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