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ABSTRACT: Background & aims
Esophageal adenocarcinoma (EA) and its premalignant lesion, Barrett's esophagus (BE), are characterized by a strong and yet unexplained male predominance (with a male-to-female ratio in EA incidence of up to 6:1). Genome-wide association studies (GWAS) have identified more than 20 susceptibility loci for these conditions. However, potential sex differences in genetic associations with BE/EA remain largely unexplored.Methods
Given strong genetic overlap, BE and EA cases were combined into a single case group for analysis. These were compared with population-based controls. We performed sex-specific GWAS of BE/EA in 3 separate studies and then used fixed-effects meta-analysis to provide summary estimates for >9 million variants for male and female individuals. A series of downstream analyses were conducted separately in male and female individuals to identify genes associated with BE/EA and the genetic correlations between BE/EA and other traits.Results
We included 6758 male BE/EA cases, 7489 male controls, 1670 female BE/EA cases, and 6174 female controls. After Bonferroni correction, our meta-analysis of sex-specific GWAS identified 1 variant at chromosome 6q11.1 (rs112894788, KHDRBS2-MTRNR2L9, PBONF = .039) that was statistically significantly associated with BE/EA risk in male individuals only, and 1 variant at chromosome 8p23.1 (rs13259457, PRSS55-RP1L1, PBONF = 0.057) associated, at borderline significance, with BE/EA risk in female individuals only. We also observed strong genetic correlations of BE/EA with gastroesophageal reflux disease in male individuals and obesity in female individuals.Conclusions
The identified novel sex-specific variants associated with BE/EA could improve the understanding of the genetic architecture of the disease and the reasons for the male predominance.
SUBMITTER: Dong J
PROVIDER: S-EPMC9057456 | biostudies-literature | 2020 Dec
REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

Dong Jing J Maj Carlo C Tsavachidis Spiridon S Ostrom Quinn T QT Gharahkhani Puya P Anderson Lesley A LA Wu Anna H AH Ye Weimin W Bernstein Leslie L Borisov Oleg O Schröder Julia J Chow Wong-Ho WH Gammon Marilie D MD Liu Geoffrey G Caldas Carlos C Pharoah Paul D PD Risch Harvey A HA May Andrea A Gerges Christian C Anders Mario M Venerito Marino M Schmidt Thomas T Izbicki Jakob R JR Hölscher Arnulf H AH Schumacher Brigitte B Vashist Yogesh Y Neuhaus Horst H Rösch Thomas T Knapp Michael M Krawitz Peter P Böhmer Anne A Iyer Prasad G PG Reid Brian J BJ Lagergren Jesper J Shaheen Nicholas J NJ Corley Douglas A DA Gockel Ines I Fitzgerald Rebecca C RC Cook Michael B MB Whiteman David C DC Vaughan Thomas L TL Schumacher Johannes J Thrift Aaron P AP
Gastroenterology 20200909 6
<h4>Background & aims</h4>Esophageal adenocarcinoma (EA) and its premalignant lesion, Barrett's esophagus (BE), are characterized by a strong and yet unexplained male predominance (with a male-to-female ratio in EA incidence of up to 6:1). Genome-wide association studies (GWAS) have identified more than 20 susceptibility loci for these conditions. However, potential sex differences in genetic associations with BE/EA remain largely unexplored.<h4>Methods</h4>Given strong genetic overlap, BE and E ...[more]