Gene-environment interaction involving recently identified colorectal cancer susceptibility loci

Kantor ED, Hutter CM, Minnier J, Berndt SI, Brenner H, Caan BJ, Campbell PT, Carlson CS, Casey G, Chan AT, Chang-Claude J, Chanock SJ, Cotterchio M, Du M, Duggan D, Fuchs CS, Giovannucci EL, Gong J, Harrison TA, Hayes RB, Henderson BE, Hoffmeister M, Hopper JL, Jenkins MA, Jiao S, Kolonel LN, Le Marchand L, Lemire M, Ma J, Newcomb PA, Ochs-Balcom HM, Pflugeisen BM, Potter JD, Rudolph A, Schoen RE, Seminara D, Slattery ML, Stelling DL, Thomas F, Thornquist M, Ulrich CM, Warnick GS, Zanke BW, Peters U, Hsu L, White E (2014) Gene-environment interaction involving recently identified colorectal cancer susceptibility loci. Cancer epidemiology, biomarkers & prevention : a publication of the American Association for Cancer Research, cosponsored by the American Society of Preventive Oncology

Background: Genome-wide association studies have identified several single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) that are associated with risk of colorectal cancer (CRC). Prior research has evaluated the presence of gene-environment interaction involving the first 10 identified susceptibility loci, but little work has been conducted on interaction involving SNPs at recently identified susceptibility loci, including: rs10911251, rs6691170, rs6687758, rs11903757, rs10936599, rs647161, rs1321311, rs719725, rs1665650, rs3824999, rs7136702, rs11169552, rs59336, rs3217810, rs4925386, and rs2423279. Methods: Data on 9160 cases and 9280 controls from the Genetics and Epidemiology of Colorectal Cancer Consortium (GECCO) and Colon Cancer Family Registry (CCFR) were used to evaluate the presence of interaction involving the above-listed SNPs and sex, body mass index (BMI), alcohol consumption, smoking, aspirin use, post-menopausal hormone (PMH) use, as well as intake of dietary calcium, dietary fiber, dietary folate, red meat, processed meat, fruit, and vegetables. Interaction was evaluated using a fixed-effects meta-analysis of an efficient Empirical Bayes estimator, and permutation was used to account for multiple comparisons. Results: None of the permutation-adjusted p-values reached statistical significance. Conclusions: The associations between recently identified genetic susceptibility loci and CRC are not strongly modified by sex, BMI, alcohol, smoking, aspirin, PMH use, and various dietary factors. Impact: Results suggest little evidence of gene-environment interaction involving recently identified susceptibility loci for CRC.