Genome-wide scan for familial nasopharyngeal carcinoma reveals evidence of linkage to chromosome 4

• Published in: Nature genetics Vol. 31; no. 4; pp. 395 - 399
• Main Authors: Feng, Bing-Jian, Huang, Wei, Shugart, Yin Yao, Lee, Ming K., Zhang, Feng, Xia, Jian-Chuan, Wang, Hui-Yun, Huang, Teng-Bo, Jian, Shao-Wen, Huang, Ping, Feng, Qi-Sheng, Huang, Li-Xi, Yu, Xing-Juan, Li, Duang, Chen, Li-Zheng, Jia, Wei-Hua, Fang, Yan, Huang, Hui-Ming, Zhu, Jing-Liu, Liu, Xiao-Ming, Zhao, Yan, Liu, Wang-Qing, Deng, Mang-Quan, Hu, Wei-Han, Wu, Shao-Xiong, Mo, Hao-Yuan, Hong, Ming-Fang, King, Mary Claire, Chen, Zhu, Zeng, Yi-Xin
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: New York Nature Publishing Group US 01.08.2002; Nature Publishing Group
• Subjects: Adult; Agriculture; Animal Genetics and Genomics; Asian Continental Ancestry Group - genetics; Biological and medical sciences; Biomedical and Life Sciences; Biomedicine; Cancer; Cancer Research; Carcinoma - genetics; Carcinoma - virology; China; Chromosomes; Chromosomes, Human, Pair 12; Chromosomes, Human, Pair 4; Classical genetics, quantitative genetics, hybrids; Complications and side effects; Diagnosis; Epstein-Barr virus; Female; Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology; Gene Function; Gene mutations; Genetic aspects; Genetic Linkage; Genetic Markers; Genetic Predisposition to Disease; Genetics; Genetics of eukaryotes. Biological and molecular evolution; Genome, Human; Genomes; Geography; Health risks; Herpesvirus 4, Human; Heterogeneity; Human; Human Genetics; Humans; letter; Linkage (Genetics); Male; Middle Aged; Nasopharyngeal cancer; Nasopharyngeal Neoplasms - genetics; Nasopharyngeal Neoplasms - virology; Pedigree; Physiological aspects; Recombination, Genetic; Risk factors; China; United States > US; Guangdong China; Genetic mapping; Carcinoma; Linkage; Nasopharyngeal; Chromosome 4; Malignant tumor; Genome
• ISSN: 1061-4036; 1546-1718
• DOI: 10.1038/ng932

Nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC) occurs with high frequency in Asian populations, especially among people of Cantonese ancestry. In areas with high incidence, NPC clusters in families, which suggests that both geography and genetics may influence disease risk 1 , 2 , 3 , 4 , 5 , 6 . Although the HLA-Bw46 locus is associated with increased risk of NPC 7 , 8 , no predisposing genes have been identified so far. Here we report the results of a genome-wide search carried out in families at high risk of NPC from Guangdong Province, China. Parametric analyses provide evidence of linkage to the D4S405 marker on chromosome 4 with a logarithm of odds for linkage (lod) score of 3.06 and a heterogeneity-adjusted lod (hlod) score of 3.21. Fine mapping with additional markers flanking D4S405 resulted in a lod score of 3.54 and hlod score of 3.67 for the region 4p15.1–q12. Multipoint nonparametric linkage analysis gives lod scores of 3.54 at D4S405 ( P = 5.4 × 10 −5 ) and 4.2 at D4S3002 ( P = 1.1 × 10 −5 ), which is positioned 4.5 cM away from D4S405 . When Epstein–Barr virus antibody titer was included as a covariate, the lod scores reached 4.70 ( P = 2.0 × 10 −5 ) and 5.36 ( P = 4.36 × 10 −6 ) for D4S405 and D4S3002 , respectively. Our findings provide evidence of a major susceptibility locus for NPC on chromosome 4 in a subset of families.