Genome-wide association study of childhood B-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia reveals novel African ancestry-specific susceptibility loci.

ABSTRACT: B-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia (B-ALL) is the most common pediatric malignancy. Given racial/ethnic differences in incidence and outcomes, B-ALL genome-wide association studies among children of African ancestry are needed. Leveraging multi-institutional datasets with 840 African American children with B-ALL and 3360 controls, nine loci achieved genome-wide significance (P < 5 × 10^-8) after meta-analysis. Two loci were established trans-ancestral susceptibility regions (IKZF1, ARID5B), while the remaining novel loci were specific to African populations. Five-year overall survival among children carrying novel risk alleles was significantly worse (83% versus 96% in non-carriers, P = 4.8 × 10^-3). Novel risk variants were also associated with subtype-specific diseas

SUBMITTER: Im C 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC12546916 | biostudies-literature | 2025 Oct

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature