Kristiina Aittomäki

Publications (116)826.23 Total impact

• Source

  Available from: Kristiina Rull

  Dataset: Supplementary Fig S1-S2 Table S1-S2

  Kristiina Rull, Liina Nagirnaja, Veli-Matti Ulander, Piret Kelgo, Tõnu Margus, Milja Kaare, Kristiina Aittomäki, Maris Laan
• Source

  Available from: Irene Konstantopoulou

  Article: Genome-wide association studies identify four ER negative-specific breast cancer risk loci.

  Montserrat Garcia-Closas, Fergus J Couch, Sara Lindstrom, Kyriaki Michailidou, Marjanka K Schmidt, Mark N Brook, Nick Orr, Suhn Kyong Rhie, Elio Riboli, Heather S Feigelson, [......], Alison M Dunning, Mark E Sherman, Georgia Chenevix-Trench, Stephen J Chanock, Per Hall, Paul D P Pharoah, Celine Vachon, Douglas F Easton, Christopher A Haiman, Peter Kraft
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  ABSTRACT: Estrogen receptor (ER)-negative tumors represent 20-30% of all breast cancers, with a higher proportion occurring in younger women and women of African ancestry. The etiology and clinical behavior of ER-negative tumors are different from those of tumors expressing ER (ER positive), including differences in genetic predisposition. To identify susceptibility loci specific to ER-negative disease, we combined in a meta-analysis 3 genome-wide association studies of 4,193 ER-negative breast cancer cases and 35,194 controls with a series of 40 follow-up studies (6,514 cases and 41,455 controls), genotyped using a custom Illumina array, iCOGS, developed by the Collaborative Oncological Gene-environment Study (COGS). SNPs at four loci, 1q32.1 (MDM4, P = 2.1 × 10(-12) and LGR6, P = 1.4 × 10(-8)), 2p24.1 (P = 4.6 × 10(-8)) and 16q12.2 (FTO, P = 4.0 × 10(-8)), were associated with ER-negative but not ER-positive breast cancer (P > 0.05). These findings provide further evidence for distinct etiological pathways associated with invasive ER-positive and ER-negative breast cancers.
  Nature Genetics 03/2013; 45(4):392-398. · 35.53 Impact Factor
• Article: Large-scale genotyping identifies 41 new loci associated with breast cancer risk.

  Kyriaki Michailidou, Per Hall, Anna Gonzalez-Neira, Maya Ghoussaini, Joe Dennis, Roger L Milne, Marjanka K Schmidt, Jenny Chang-Claude, Stig E Bojesen, Manjeet K Bolla, [......], Sandra Deming-Halverson, Martha Shrubsole, Jirong Long, Jacques Simard, Montse Garcia-Closas, Paul D P Pharoah, Georgia Chenevix-Trench, Alison M Dunning, Javier Benitez, Douglas F Easton
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  ABSTRACT: Breast cancer is the most common cancer among women. Common variants at 27 loci have been identified as associated with susceptibility to breast cancer, and these account for ∼9% of the familial risk of the disease. We report here a meta-analysis of 9 genome-wide association studies, including 10,052 breast cancer cases and 12,575 controls of European ancestry, from which we selected 29,807 SNPs for further genotyping. These SNPs were genotyped in 45,290 cases and 41,880 controls of European ancestry from 41 studies in the Breast Cancer Association Consortium (BCAC). The SNPs were genotyped as part of a collaborative genotyping experiment involving four consortia (Collaborative Oncological Gene-environment Study, COGS) and used a custom Illumina iSelect genotyping array, iCOGS, comprising more than 200,000 SNPs. We identified SNPs at 41 new breast cancer susceptibility loci at genome-wide significance (P < 5 × 10(-8)). Further analyses suggest that more than 1,000 additional loci are involved in breast cancer susceptibility.
  Nature Genetics 03/2013; 45(4):353-361. · 35.53 Impact Factor
• Source

  Available from: Robert A Vierkant

  Article: Multiple independent variants at the TERT locus are associated with telomere length and risks of breast and ovarian cancer.

  Stig E Bojesen, Karen A Pooley, Sharon E Johnatty, Jonathan Beesley, Kyriaki Michailidou, Jonathan P Tyrer, Stacey L Edwards, Hilda A Pickett, Howard C Shen, Chanel E Smart, [......], Simon A Gayther, Paul D P Pharoah, Roger R Reddel, Ellen L Goode, Mark H Greene, Douglas F Easton, Andrew Berchuck, Antonis C Antoniou, Georgia Chenevix-Trench, Alison M Dunning
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  ABSTRACT: TERT-locus SNPs and leukocyte telomere measures are reportedly associated with risks of multiple cancers. Using the Illumina custom genotyping array iCOGs, we analyzed ∼480 SNPs at the TERT locus in breast (n = 103,991), ovarian (n = 39,774) and BRCA1 mutation carrier (n = 11,705) cancer cases and controls. Leukocyte telomere measurements were also available for 53,724 participants. Most associations cluster into three independent peaks. The minor allele at the peak 1 SNP rs2736108 associates with longer telomeres (P = 5.8 × 10(-7)), lower risks for estrogen receptor (ER)-negative (P = 1.0 × 10(-8)) and BRCA1 mutation carrier (P = 1.1 × 10(-5)) breast cancers and altered promoter assay signal. The minor allele at the peak 2 SNP rs7705526 associates with longer telomeres (P = 2.3 × 10(-14)), higher risk of low-malignant-potential ovarian cancer (P = 1.3 × 10(-15)) and greater promoter activity. The minor alleles at the peak 3 SNPs rs10069690 and rs2242652 increase ER-negative (P = 1.2 × 10(-12)) and BRCA1 mutation carrier (P = 1.6 × 10(-14)) breast and invasive ovarian (P = 1.3 × 10(-11)) cancer risks but not via altered telomere length. The cancer risk alleles of rs2242652 and rs10069690, respectively, increase silencing and generate a truncated TERT splice variant.
  Nature Genetics 03/2013; 45(4):371-384. · 35.53 Impact Factor
• Article: Functional Variants at the 11q13 Risk Locus for Breast Cancer Regulate Cyclin D1 Expression through Long-Range Enhancers.

  Juliet D French, Maya Ghoussaini, Stacey L Edwards, Kerstin B Meyer, Kyriaki Michailidou, Shahana Ahmed, Sofia Khan, Mel J Maranian, Martin O'Reilly, Kristine M Hillman, [......], Anthony Swerdlow, Alan Ashworth, Nick Orr, Minouk J Schoemaker, Bruce A J Ponder, Heli Nevanlinna, Melissa A Brown, Georgia Chenevix-Trench, Douglas F Easton, Alison M Dunning
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  ABSTRACT: Analysis of 4,405 variants in 89,050 European subjects from 41 case-control studies identified three independent association signals for estrogen-receptor-positive tumors at 11q13. The strongest signal maps to a transcriptional enhancer element in which the G allele of the best candidate causative variant rs554219 increases risk of breast cancer, reduces both binding of ELK4 transcription factor and luciferase activity in reporter assays, and may be associated with low cyclin D1 protein levels in tumors. Another candidate variant, rs78540526, lies in the same enhancer element. Risk association signal 2, rs75915166, creates a GATA3 binding site within a silencer element. Chromatin conformation studies demonstrate that these enhancer and silencer elements interact with each other and with their likely target gene, CCND1.
  The American Journal of Human Genetics 03/2013; · 10.60 Impact Factor
• Article: Identification of a BRCA2-Specific Modifier Locus at 6p24 Related to Breast Cancer Risk.

  Mia M Gaudet, Karoline B Kuchenbaecker, Joseph Vijai, Robert J Klein, Tomas Kirchhoff, Lesley McGuffog, Daniel Barrowdale, Alison M Dunning, Andrew Lee, Joe Dennis, [......], Guillermo Pita, M Rosario Alonso, Per Hall, Fergus J Couch, Jacques Simard, David Altshuler, Douglas F Easton, Georgia Chenevix-Trench, Antonis C Antoniou, Kenneth Offit
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  ABSTRACT: Common genetic variants contribute to the observed variation in breast cancer risk for BRCA2 mutation carriers; those known to date have all been found through population-based genome-wide association studies (GWAS). To comprehensively identify breast cancer risk modifying loci for BRCA2 mutation carriers, we conducted a deep replication of an ongoing GWAS discovery study. Using the ranked P-values of the breast cancer associations with the imputed genotype of 1.4 M SNPs, 19,029 SNPs were selected and designed for inclusion on a custom Illumina array that included a total of 211,155 SNPs as part of a multi-consortial project. DNA samples from 3,881 breast cancer affected and 4,330 unaffected BRCA2 mutation carriers from 47 studies belonging to the Consortium of Investigators of Modifiers of BRCA1/2 were genotyped and available for analysis. We replicated previously reported breast cancer susceptibility alleles in these BRCA2 mutation carriers and for several regions (including FGFR2, MAP3K1, CDKN2A/B, and PTHLH) identified SNPs that have stronger evidence of association than those previously published. We also identified a novel susceptibility allele at 6p24 that was inversely associated with risk in BRCA2 mutation carriers (rs9348512; per allele HR = 0.85, 95% CI 0.80-0.90, P = 3.9×10(-8)). This SNP was not associated with breast cancer risk either in the general population or in BRCA1 mutation carriers. The locus lies within a region containing TFAP2A, which encodes a transcriptional activation protein that interacts with several tumor suppressor genes. This report identifies the first breast cancer risk locus specific to a BRCA2 mutation background. This comprehensive update of novel and previously reported breast cancer susceptibility loci contributes to the establishment of a panel of SNPs that modify breast cancer risk in BRCA2 mutation carriers. This panel may have clinical utility for women with BRCA2 mutations weighing options for medical prevention of breast cancer.
  PLoS Genetics 03/2013; 9(3):e1003173. · 8.69 Impact Factor
• Article: Genome-Wide Association Study in BRCA1 Mutation Carriers Identifies Novel Loci Associated with Breast and Ovarian Cancer Risk.

  Fergus J Couch, Xianshu Wang, Lesley McGuffog, Andrew Lee, Curtis Olswold, Karoline B Kuchenbaecker, Penny Soucy, Zachary Fredericksen, Daniel Barrowdale, Joe Dennis, [......], Chen Wang, Steven Hart, Kristen Stevens, Jacques Simard, Tomi Pastinen, Vernon S Pankratz, Kenneth Offit, Douglas F Easton, Georgia Chenevix-Trench, Antonis C Antoniou
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  ABSTRACT: BRCA1-associated breast and ovarian cancer risks can be modified by common genetic variants. To identify further cancer risk-modifying loci, we performed a multi-stage GWAS of 11,705 BRCA1 carriers (of whom 5,920 were diagnosed with breast and 1,839 were diagnosed with ovarian cancer), with a further replication in an additional sample of 2,646 BRCA1 carriers. We identified a novel breast cancer risk modifier locus at 1q32 for BRCA1 carriers (rs2290854, P = 2.7×10(-8), HR = 1.14, 95% CI: 1.09-1.20). In addition, we identified two novel ovarian cancer risk modifier loci: 17q21.31 (rs17631303, P = 1.4×10(-8), HR = 1.27, 95% CI: 1.17-1.38) and 4q32.3 (rs4691139, P = 3.4×10(-8), HR = 1.20, 95% CI: 1.17-1.38). The 4q32.3 locus was not associated with ovarian cancer risk in the general population or BRCA2 carriers, suggesting a BRCA1-specific association. The 17q21.31 locus was also associated with ovarian cancer risk in 8,211 BRCA2 carriers (P = 2×10(-4)). These loci may lead to an improved understanding of the etiology of breast and ovarian tumors in BRCA1 carriers. Based on the joint distribution of the known BRCA1 breast cancer risk-modifying loci, we estimated that the breast cancer lifetime risks for the 5% of BRCA1 carriers at lowest risk are 28%-50% compared to 81%-100% for the 5% at highest risk. Similarly, based on the known ovarian cancer risk-modifying loci, the 5% of BRCA1 carriers at lowest risk have an estimated lifetime risk of developing ovarian cancer of 28% or lower, whereas the 5% at highest risk will have a risk of 63% or higher. Such differences in risk may have important implications for risk prediction and clinical management for BRCA1 carriers.
  PLoS Genetics 03/2013; 9(3):e1003212. · 8.69 Impact Factor
• Article: Germ line variation in TP53 regulatory network genes associates with breast cancer survival and treatment outcome.

  Maral Jamshidi, Marjanka K Schmidt, Thilo Dörk, Montserrat Garcia-Closas, Tuomas Heikkinen, Sten Cornelissen, Alexandra J van den Broek, Peter Schürmann, Andreas Meyer, Tjoung-Won Park-Simon, [......], Mark Sherman, Jolanta Lissowska, Garrett Teoh Hor Keong, Astrid Irwanto, Marko Laakso, Sampsa Hautaniemi, Kristiina Aittomäki, Carl Blomqvist, Jianjun Liu, Heli Nevalinna
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  ABSTRACT: Germ line variation in the TP53 network genes PRKAG2, PPP2R2B, CCNG1, PIAS1 and YWHAQ was previously suggested to have an impact on drug response in vitro. Here, we investigated the effect on breast cancer survival of germ line variation in these genes in 925 Finnish breast cancer patients and further analyzed 5 SNPs in PRKAG2 (rs1029946, rs4726050, rs6464153, rs7789699) and PPP2R2B (rs10477313) for 10-year survival in breast cancer patients, interaction with TP53 R72P and MDM2-SNP309, outcome after specific adjuvant therapy, and correlation to tumor characteristics in 4701 invasive cases from four data sets. We found evidence for carriers of PRKAG2-rs1029946 and PRKAG2-rs4726050 having improved survival in the pooled data (HR 0.53, 95% CI 0.3-0.9; P = 0.023 for homozygous carriers of the rare G-allele and HR 0.85, 95% CI 0.7-0.9; P = 0.049 for carriers of the rare G allele, respectively). PRKAG2-rs4726050 showed a significant interaction with MDM2-SNP309, with PRKAG2-rs4726050 rare G-allele having a dose-dependent effect for better breast cancer survival confined only to MDM2 SNP309 rare G-allele carriers (HR 0.45, 95% CI 0.2-0.7; P = 0.001). This interaction also emerged as an independent predictor of better survival (P = 0.047). PPP2R2B-rs10477313 rare A-allele was found to predict better survival (HR 0.82, 95% CI 0.6-0.9; P = 0.018), especially after hormonal therapy (HR 0.66, 95% CI 0.5-0.9; P = 0.048). These findings warrant further studies and suggest that genetic markers in TP53 network genes such as PRKAG2 and PPP2R2B might affect prognosis and treatment outcome in breast cancer patients.
  International Journal of Cancer 10/2012; · 5.44 Impact Factor
• Article: A meta-analysis of genome-wide association studies of breast cancer identifies two novel susceptibility loci at 6q14 and 20q11.

  Afshan Siddiq, Fergus J Couch, Gary K Chen, Sara Lindström, Diana Eccles, Robert C Millikan, Kyriaki Michailidou, Daniel O Stram, Lars Beckmann, Suhn Kyong Rhie, [......], Elad Ziv, Heli Nevanlinna, Douglas F Easton, David J Hunter, Brian E Henderson, Stephen J Chanock, Montserrat Garcia-Closas, Peter Kraft, Christopher A Haiman, Celine M Vachon
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  ABSTRACT: Genome-wide association studies (GWAS) of breast cancer defined by hormone receptor status have revealed loci contributing to susceptibility of estrogen receptor (ER)-negative subtypes. To identify additional genetic variants for ER-negative breast cancer, we conducted the largest meta-analysis of ER-negative disease to date, comprising 4754 ER-negative cases and 31 663 controls from three GWAS: NCI Breast and Prostate Cancer Cohort Consortium (BPC3) (2188 ER-negative cases; 25 519 controls of European ancestry), Triple Negative Breast Cancer Consortium (TNBCC) (1562 triple negative cases; 3399 controls of European ancestry) and African American Breast Cancer Consortium (AABC) (1004 ER-negative cases; 2745 controls). We performed in silico replication of 86 SNPs at P ≤ 1 × 10(-5) in an additional 11 209 breast cancer cases (946 with ER-negative disease) and 16 057 controls of Japanese, Latino and European ancestry. We identified two novel loci for breast cancer at 20q11 and 6q14. SNP rs2284378 at 20q11 was associated with ER-negative breast cancer (combined two-stage OR = 1.16; P = 1.1 × 10(-8)) but showed a weaker association with overall breast cancer (OR = 1.08, P = 1.3 × 10(-6)) based on 17 869 cases and 43 745 controls and no association with ER-positive disease (OR = 1.01, P = 0.67) based on 9965 cases and 22 902 controls. Similarly, rs17530068 at 6q14 was associated with breast cancer (OR = 1.12; P = 1.1 × 10(-9)), and with both ER-positive (OR = 1.09; P = 1.5 × 10(-5)) and ER-negative (OR = 1.16, P = 2.5 × 10(-7)) disease. We also confirmed three known loci associated with ER-negative (19p13) and both ER-negative and ER-positive breast cancer (6q25 and 12p11). Our results highlight the value of large-scale collaborative studies to identify novel breast cancer risk loci.
  Human Molecular Genetics 09/2012; · 7.64 Impact Factor
• Article: 9q31.2-rs865686 as a Susceptibility Locus for Estrogen Receptor-Positive Breast Cancer: Evidence from the Breast Cancer Association Consortium.

  Helen Warren, Frank Dudbridge, Olivia Fletcher, Nick Orr, Nichola Johnson, John L Hopper, Carmel Apicella, Melissa C Southey, Maryam Mahmoodi, Marjanka K Schmidt, [......], Maya Ghoussaini, Alan Ashworth, Anthony Swerdlow, Michael Jones, Minouk Schoemaker, Douglas F Easton, Manjeet Humphreys, Qin Wang, Julian Peto, Isabel Dos-Santos-Silva
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  ABSTRACT: BACKGROUND: Our recent genome-wide association study identified a novel breast cancer susceptibility locus at 9q31.2 (rs865686). METHODS: To further investigate the rs865686-breast cancer association, we conducted a replication study within the Breast Cancer Association Consortium, which comprises 37 case-control studies (48,394 cases, 50,836 controls). RESULTS: This replication study provides additional strong evidence of an inverse association between rs865686 and breast cancer risk [study-adjusted per G-allele OR, 0.90; 95% confidence interval (CI), 0.88; 0.91, P = 2.01 × 10(-29)] among women of European ancestry. There were ethnic differences in the estimated minor (G)-allele frequency among controls [0.09, 0.30, and 0.38 among, respectively, Asians, Eastern Europeans, and other Europeans; P for heterogeneity (P(het)) = 1.3 × 10(-143)], but no evidence of ethnic differences in per allele OR (P(het) = 0.43). rs865686 was associated with estrogen receptor-positive (ER(+)) disease (per G-allele OR, 0.89; 95% CI, 0.86-0.91; P = 3.13 × 10(-22)) but less strongly, if at all, with ER-negative (ER(-)) disease (OR, 0.98; 95% CI, 0.94-1.02; P = 0.26; P(het) = 1.16 × 10(-6)), with no evidence of independent heterogeneity by progesterone receptor or HER2 status. The strength of the breast cancer association decreased with increasing age at diagnosis, with case-only analysis showing a trend in the number of copies of the G allele with increasing age at diagnosis (P for linear trend = 0.0095), but only among women with ER(+) tumors. CONCLUSIONS: This study is the first to show that rs865686 is a susceptibility marker for ER(+) breast cancer. Impact: The findings further support the view that genetic susceptibility varies according to tumor subtype. Cancer Epidemiol Biomarkers Prev; 21(10); 1783-. ©2012 AACR.
  Cancer Epidemiology Biomarkers &amp Prevention 08/2012; 21(10):1783-1791. · 4.12 Impact Factor
• Article: A nonsynonymous polymorphism in IRS1 modifies risk of developing breast and ovarian cancers in BRCA1 and ovarian cancer in BRCA2 mutation carriers.

  Yuan C Ding, Lesley McGuffog, Sue Healey, Eitan Friedman, Yael Laitman, Shani- Paluch-Shimon, Bella Kaufman, Annelie Liljegren, Annika Lindblom, Håkan Olsson, [......], Hilmi Ozcelik, Anne-Marie Gerdes, Mads Thomassen, Uffe Birk Jensen, Anne-Bine Skytte, Maria A Caligo, Andrew Lee, Georgia Chenevix-Trench, Antonis C Antoniou, Susan L Neuhausen
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  ABSTRACT: We previously reported significant associations between genetic variants in insulin receptor substrate 1 (IRS1) and breast cancer risk in women carrying BRCA1 mutations. The objectives of this study were to investigate whether the IRS1 variants modified ovarian cancer risk and were associated with breast cancer risk in a larger cohort of BRCA1 and BRCA2 mutation carriers. IRS1 rs1801123, rs1330645, and rs1801278 were genotyped in samples from 36 centers in the Consortium of Investigators of Modifiers of BRCA1/2 (CIMBA). Data were analyzed by a retrospective cohort approach modeling the associations with breast and ovarian cancer risks simultaneously. Analyses were stratified by BRCA1 and BRCA2 status and mutation class in BRCA1 carriers. Rs1801278 (Gly972Arg) was associated with ovarian cancer risk for both BRCA1 (HR, 1.43; 95% confidence interval (CI), 1.06-1.92; P = 0.019) and BRCA2 mutation carriers (HR, 2.21; 95% CI, 1.39-3.52, P = 0.0008). For BRCA1 mutation carriers, the breast cancer risk was higher in carriers with class II mutations than class I mutations (class II HR, 1.86; 95% CI, 1.28-2.70; class I HR, 0.86; 95%CI, 0.69-1.09; P(difference), 0.0006). Rs13306465 was associated with ovarian cancer risk in BRCA1 class II mutation carriers (HR, 2.42; P = 0.03). The IRS1 Gly972Arg single-nucleotide polymorphism, which affects insulin-like growth factor and insulin signaling, modifies ovarian cancer risk in BRCA1 and BRCA2 mutation carriers and breast cancer risk in BRCA1 class II mutation carriers. These findings may prove useful for risk prediction for breast and ovarian cancers in BRCA1 and BRCA2 mutation carriers.
  Cancer Epidemiology Biomarkers &amp Prevention 06/2012; 21(8):1362-70. · 4.12 Impact Factor
• Article: Breast carcinoma and Lynch syndrome: molecular analysis of tumors arising in mutation carriers, non-carriers, and sporadic cases.

  Johanna E Lotsari, Annette Gylling, Wael M Abdel-Rahman, Taina T Nieminen, Kristiina Aittomäki, Marjukka Friman, Reino Pitkänen, Markku Aarnio, Heikki J Järvinen, Jukka-Pekka Mecklin, Teijo Kuopio, Päivi Peltomäki
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  ABSTRACT: Breast carcinoma is the most common cancer in women, but its incidence is not increased in Lynch syndrome (LS) and studies on DNA mismatch repair deficiency (MMR) in LS-associated breast cancers have arrived at conflicting results. This study aimed to settle the question as to whether breast carcinoma belongs to the LS tumor spectrum. MMR status and epigenetic profiles were determined for all available breast carcinomas identified among 200 LS families from a nation-wide registry (23 tumors from mutation carriers and 18 from non-carriers). Sporadic breast carcinomas (n = 49) and other cancers (n = 105) from MMR gene mutation carriers were studied for comparison. The proportion of breast carcinomas that were MMR-deficient based on absent MMR protein, presence of microsatellite instability, or both was significantly (P = 0.00016) higher among breast carcinomas from mutation carriers (13/20, 65%) compared to non-carriers (0/14, 0%). While the average age at breast carcinoma diagnosis was similar in carriers (56 years) and non-carriers (54 years), it was lower for MMR-deficient versus proficient tumors in mutation carriers (53 years versus 61 years, P = 0.027). Among mutation carriers, absent MMR protein was less frequent in breast carcinoma (65%) than in any of seven other tumor types studied (75% to 100%). Tumor suppressor promoter methylation patterns were organ-specific and similar between breast carcinomas from mutation carriers and non-carriers. Breast carcinoma from MMR gene mutation carriers resembles common breast carcinoma in many respects (for example, general clinicopathological and epigenetic profiles). MMR status makes a distinction: over half are MMR-deficient typical of LS spectrum tumors, while the remaining subset which is MMR-proficient may develop differently. The results are important for appropriate surveillance in mutation carriers and may be relevant for LS diagnosis in selected cases.
  Breast cancer research: BCR 06/2012; 14(3):R90. · 5.24 Impact Factor
• Article: A Finnish founder mutation in RAD51D: analysis in breast, ovarian, prostate, and colorectal cancer.

  Liisa M Pelttari, Johanna Kiiski, Riikka Nurminen, Anne Kallioniemi, Johanna Schleutker, Alexandra Gylfe, Lauri A Aaltonen, Arto Leminen, Päivi Heikkilä, Carl Blomqvist, Ralf Bützow, Kristiina Aittomäki, Heli Nevanlinna
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  ABSTRACT: RAD51D and RAD54L are involved in homologous recombination, and rare mutations in RAD51D were recently found in breast-ovarian cancer families. This study investigated RAD51D and RAD54L for mutations in breast and ovarian cancer patients in the Finnish population. The study sequenced the RAD51D and RAD54L genes in 95 breast and/or ovarian cancer families and genotyped the identified mutation in an additional 2200 breast and 553 ovarian cancer patients and 2102 population controls. To investigate the role of the mutation in other common cancers, 1094 prostate and 980 colorectal cancer patients were genotyped. In the screening of RAD51D, one deleterious founder mutation c.576+1G>A was identified in two breast-ovarian cancer families. No mutations were found in RAD54L. Altogether, the c.576+1G>A mutation was detected in 5/707 patients with a personal or family history of ovarian cancer (OR 9.16, 95% CI 1.07 to 78.56; p=0.024), with the highest frequency among breast-ovarian cancer families (3/105 vs 1/1287 controls, OR 37.82, 95% CI 3.90 to 366.91; p=0.0016), but no elevated frequency among breast cancer patients/families (2/2105, p=1). The mutation was not found among prostate or colorectal cancer patients. The results of this study on familial and unselected breast, ovarian, colorectal, and prostate cancer patients suggest that RAD51D is primarily a moderate penetrance susceptibility gene for ovarian cancer, with clinical significance for the carriers.
  Journal of Medical Genetics 05/2012; 49(7):429-32. · 6.36 Impact Factor
• Article: Analysis of a Finnish family confirms RHBDF2 mutations as the underlying factor in tylosis with esophageal cancer.

  Silva Saarinen, Pia Vahteristo, Rainer Lehtonen, Kristiina Aittomäki, Virpi Launonen, Tuula Kiviluoto, Lauri A Aaltonen
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  ABSTRACT: Tylosis with esophageal cancer (TOC) is a rare familial cancer syndrome inherited in an autosomal-dominant manner and characterized by esophageal cancer susceptibility and hyperkeratotic skin lesions. Two heterozygous missense mutations in the RHBDF2 gene were recently reported to be associated with TOC in three families: a p.Ile186Thr mutation was found in families from the UK and the US and a p.Pro189Leu mutation was detected in a German TOC family. We aimed to validate these novel results in an independent material by screening RHBDF2 in a previously unreported Finnish TOC family. We identified a new missense mutation, p.Asp188Asn, segregating with TOC in the Finnish family, and interestingly the detected mutation alters a codon located between the two previously reported mutation sites. Thus, we confirmed RHBDF2 mutations as the underlying cause of the TOC syndrome and our results suggest that the TOC associated mutations might be specific for this particular site in the RHBDF2 gene. These results enable the genetic counseling and diagnostic mutation screening of the members of TOC families.
  Familial Cancer 05/2012; · 1.30 Impact Factor
• Article: The role of genetic breast cancer susceptibility variants as prognostic factors.

  Peter A Fasching, Paul D P Pharoah, Angela Cox, Heli Nevanlinna, Stig E Bojesen, Thomas Karn, Annegien Broeks, Flora E van Leeuwen, Laura J van't Veer, Renate Udo, [......], Sara J Schonfeld, Hoda Anton-Culver, Peter Devilee, Matthias W Beckmann, Dennis J Slamon, Kelly-Anne Phillips, Jonine D Figueroa, Manjeet K Humphreys, Douglas F Easton, Marjanka K Schmidt
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  ABSTRACT: Recent genome-wide association studies identified 11 single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) associated with breast cancer (BC) risk. We investigated these and 62 other SNPs for their prognostic relevance. Confirmed BC risk SNPs rs17468277 (CASP8), rs1982073 (TGFB1), rs2981582 (FGFR2), rs13281615 (8q24), rs3817198 (LSP1), rs889312 (MAP3K1), rs3803662 (TOX3), rs13387042 (2q35), rs4973768 (SLC4A7), rs6504950 (COX11) and rs10941679 (5p12) were genotyped for 25 853 BC patients with the available follow-up; 62 other SNPs, which have been suggested as BC risk SNPs by a GWAS or as candidate SNPs from individual studies, were genotyped for replication purposes in subsets of these patients. Cox proportional hazard models were used to test the association of these SNPs with overall survival (OS) and BC-specific survival (BCS). For the confirmed loci, we performed an accessory analysis of publicly available gene expression data and the prognosis in a different patient group. One of the 11 SNPs, rs3803662 (TOX3) and none of the 62 candidate/GWAS SNPs were associated with OS and/or BCS at P<0.01. The genotypic-specific survival for rs3803662 suggested a recessive mode of action [hazard ratio (HR) of rare homozygous carriers=1.21; 95% CI: 1.09-1.35, P=0.0002 and HR=1.29; 95% CI: 1.12-1.47, P=0.0003 for OS and BCS, respectively]. This association was seen similarly in all analyzed tumor subgroups defined by nodal status, tumor size, grade and estrogen receptor. Breast tumor expression of these genes was not associated with prognosis. With the exception of rs3803662 (TOX3), there was no evidence that any of the SNPs associated with BC susceptibility were associated with the BC survival. Survival may be influenced by a distinct set of germline variants from those influencing susceptibility.
  Human Molecular Genetics 04/2012; 21(17):3926-39. · 7.64 Impact Factor
• Article: Germ-line variation at a functional p53 binding site increases susceptibility to breast cancer development

  Jianjun Liu, Kartiki Vasant Desai, Yuqing Li, Shakeela Banu, Yew Kok Lee, Dianbo Qu, Tuomas Heikkinen, Kirsimari Aaltonen, Taru A. Muranen, Tasneem Shabbir Kajiji, [......], Georgia Chenevix-Trench, Jonathan Beesley, Amanda B. Spurdle, Xiaoqing Chen, Kathleen Cuningham Foundation Consortium for Research into Familial Breast Cancer, Australian Ovarian Cancer Study Group, Kamila Czene, Per Hall, Heli Nevanlinna, Edison T. Liu
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  ABSTRACT: Multiple lines of evidence suggest regulatory variation to play an important role in phenotypic evolution and disease development, but few regulatory polymorphisms have been characterized genetically and molecularly. Recent technological advances have made it possible to identify bona fide regulatory sequences experimentally on a genome-wide scale and opened the window for the biological interrogation of germ-line polymorphisms within these sequences. In this study, through a forward genetic analysis of bona fide p53 binding sites identified by a genome-wide chromatin immunoprecipitation and sequence analysis, we discovered a SNP (rs1860746) within the motif sequence of a p53 binding site where p53 can function as a regulator of transcription. We found that the minor allele (T) binds p53 poorly and has low transcriptional regulation activity as compared to the major allele (G). Significantly, the homozygosity of the minor allele was found to be associated with an increased risk of ER negative breast cancer (OR=1.47, P=0.038) from the analysis of five independent breast cancer samples of European origin consisting of 6,127 breast cancer patients and 5,197 controls. rs1860746 resides in the third intron of the PRKAG2 gene that encodes the γ subunit of the AMPK protein, a major sensor of metabolic stress and a modulator of p53 action. However, this gene does not appear to be regulated by p53 in lymphoblastoid cell lines nor in a cancer cell line. These results suggest that either the rs1860746 locus regulates another gene through distant interactions, or that this locus is in linkage disequilibrium with a second causal mutation. This study shows the feasibility of using genomic scale molecular data to uncover disease associated SNPs, but underscores the complexity of determining the function of regulatory variants in human populations. Keywordsp53 binding sites-PRKAG2 gene-Polymorphism-ER negative tumors-Breast cancer susceptibility
  HUGO Journal 04/2012; 3(1):31-40.
• Article: Haplotype structure in Ashkenazi Jewish BRCA1 and BRCA2 mutation carriers

  Kate M. Im, Tomas Kirchhoff, Xianshu Wang, Todd Green, Clement Y. Chow, Joseph Vijai, Joshua Korn, Mia M. Gaudet, Zachary Fredericksen, V. Shane Pankratz, [......], Robert J. Klein, Mark J. Daly, Eitan Friedman, Michael Dean, Andrew G. Clark, David M. Altshuler, Antonis C. Antoniou, Fergus J. Couch, Kenneth Offit, Bert Gold
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  ABSTRACT: Three founder mutations in BRCA1 and BRCA2 contribute to the risk of hereditary breast and ovarian cancer in Ashkenazi Jews (AJ). They are observed at increased frequency in the AJ compared to other BRCA mutations in Caucasian non-Jews (CNJ). Several authors have proposed that elevated allele frequencies in the surrounding genomic regions reflect adaptive or balancing selection. Such proposals predict long-range linkage disequilibrium (LD) resulting from a selective sweep, although genetic drift in a founder population may also act to create long-distance LD. To date, few studies have used the tools of statistical genomics to examine the likelihood of long-range LD at a deleterious locus in a population that faced a genetic bottleneck. We studied the genotypes of hundreds of women from a large international consortium of BRCA1 and BRCA2 mutation carriers and found that AJ women exhibited long-range haplotypes compared to CNJ women. More than 50% of the AJ chromosomes with the BRCA1 185delAG mutation share an identical 2.1Mb haplotype and nearly 16% of AJ chromosomes carrying the BRCA2 6174delT mutation share a 1.4Mb haplotype. Simulations based on the best inference of Ashkenazi population demography indicate that long-range haplotypes are expected in the context of a genome-wide survey. Our results are consistent with the hypothesis that a local bottleneck effect from population size constriction events could by chance have resulted in the large haplotype blocks observed at high frequency in the BRCA1 and BRCA2 regions of Ashkenazi Jews.
  Human Genetics 04/2012; 130(5):685-699. · 5.07 Impact Factor
• Article: 11q13 is a susceptibility locus for hormone receptor positive breast cancer.

  Diether Lambrechts, Therese Truong, Christina Justenhoven, Manjeet K Humphreys, Jean Wang, John L Hopper, Gillian S Dite, Carmel Apicella, Melissa C Southey, Marjanka K Schmidt, [......], Daehee Kang, Keun-Young Yoo, Dong-Young Noh, Annika Lindblom, Sara Margolin, Alison M Dunning, Paul D P Pharoah, Douglas F Easton, Pascal Guénel, Hiltrud Brauch
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  ABSTRACT: A recent two-stage genome-wide association study (GWAS) identified five novel breast cancer susceptibility loci on chromosomes 9, 10, and 11. To provide more reliable estimates of the relative risk associated with these loci and investigate possible heterogeneity by subtype of breast cancer, we genotyped the variants rs2380205, rs1011970, rs704010, rs614367, and rs10995190 in 39 studies from the Breast Cancer Association Consortium (BCAC), involving 49,608 cases and 48,772 controls of predominantly European ancestry. Four of the variants showed clear evidence of association (P ≤ 3 × 10(-9) ) and weak evidence was observed for rs2380205 (P = 0.06). The strongest evidence was obtained for rs614367, located on 11q13 (per-allele odds ratio 1.21, P = 4 × 10(-39) ). The association for rs614367 was specific to estrogen receptor (ER)-positive disease and strongest for ER plus progesterone receptor (PR)-positive breast cancer, whereas the associations for the other three loci did not differ by tumor subtype.
  Human Mutation 03/2012; 33(7):1123-32. · 5.69 Impact Factor
• Article: 19p13.1 is a triple-negative-specific breast cancer susceptibility locus.

  Kristen N Stevens, Zachary Fredericksen, Celine M Vachon, Xianshu Wang, Sara Margolin, Annika Lindblom, Heli Nevanlinna, Dario Greco, Kristiina Aittomäki, Carl Blomqvist, [......], Marie-Rose Christiaens, Georgia Chenevix-Trench, Jonathan Beesley, Xiaoqing Chen, Arto Mannermaa, Veli-Matti Kosma, Jaana M Hartikainen, Ylermi Soini, Douglas F Easton, Fergus J Couch
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  ABSTRACT: The 19p13.1 breast cancer susceptibility locus is a modifier of breast cancer risk in BRCA1 mutation carriers and is also associated with the risk of ovarian cancer. Here, we investigated 19p13.1 variation and risk of breast cancer subtypes, defined by estrogen receptor (ER), progesterone receptor (PR), and human epidermal growth factor receptor-2 (HER2) status, using 48,869 breast cancer cases and 49,787 controls from the Breast Cancer Association Consortium (BCAC). Variants from 19p13.1 were not associated with breast cancer overall or with ER-positive breast cancer but were significantly associated with ER-negative breast cancer risk [rs8170 OR, 1.10; 95% confidence interval (CI), 1.05-1.15; P = 3.49 × 10(-5)] and triple-negative (ER-, PR-, and HER2-negative) breast cancer (rs8170: OR, 1.22; 95% CI, 1.13-1.31; P = 2.22 × 10(-7)). However, rs8170 was no longer associated with ER-negative breast cancer risk when triple-negative cases were excluded (OR, 0.98; 95% CI, 0.89-1.07; P = 0.62). In addition, a combined analysis of triple-negative cases from BCAC and the Triple Negative Breast Cancer Consortium (TNBCC; N = 3,566) identified a genome-wide significant association between rs8170 and triple-negative breast cancer risk (OR, 1.25; 95% CI, 1.18-1.33; P = 3.31 × 10(-13)]. Thus, 19p13.1 is the first triple-negative-specific breast cancer risk locus and the first locus specific to a histologic subtype defined by ER, PR, and HER2 to be identified. These findings provide convincing evidence that genetic susceptibility to breast cancer varies by tumor subtype and that triple-negative tumors and other subtypes likely arise through distinct etiologic pathways.
  Cancer Research 02/2012; 72(7):1795-803. · 7.86 Impact Factor
• Article: Ovarian cancer susceptibility alleles and risk of ovarian cancer in BRCA1 and BRCA2 mutation carriers.

  Susan J Ramus, Antonis C Antoniou, Karoline B Kuchenbaecker, Penny Soucy, Jonathan Beesley, Xiaoqing Chen, Lesley McGuffog, Olga M Sinilnikova, Sue Healey, Daniel Barrowdale, [......], Irene L Andrulis, Gord Glendon, Hilmi Ozcelik, Paul D P Pharoah, Simon A Gayther, Jacques Simard, Douglas F Easton, Fergus J Couch, Georgia Chenevix-Trench, Hans Ehrencrona
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  ABSTRACT: Germline mutations in BRCA1 and BRCA2 are associated with increased risks of breast and ovarian cancer. A genome-wide association study (GWAS) identified six alleles associated with risk of ovarian cancer for women in the general population. We evaluated four of these loci as potential modifiers of ovarian cancer risk for BRCA1 and BRCA2 mutation carriers. Four single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs), rs10088218 (at 8q24), rs2665390 (at 3q25), rs717852 (at 2q31), and rs9303542 (at 17q21), were genotyped in 12,599 BRCA1 and 7,132 BRCA2 carriers, including 2,678 ovarian cancer cases. Associations were evaluated within a retrospective cohort approach. All four loci were associated with ovarian cancer risk in BRCA2 carriers; rs10088218 per-allele hazard ratio (HR) = 0.81 (95% CI: 0.67-0.98) P-trend = 0.033, rs2665390 HR = 1.48 (95% CI: 1.21-1.83) P-trend = 1.8 × 10(-4), rs717852 HR = 1.25 (95% CI: 1.10-1.42) P-trend = 6.6 × 10(-4), rs9303542 HR = 1.16 (95% CI: 1.02-1.33) P-trend = 0.026. Two loci were associated with ovarian cancer risk in BRCA1 carriers; rs10088218 per-allele HR = 0.89 (95% CI: 0.81-0.99) P-trend = 0.029, rs2665390 HR = 1.25 (95% CI: 1.10-1.42) P-trend = 6.1 × 10(-4). The HR estimates for the remaining loci were consistent with odds ratio estimates for the general population. The identification of multiple loci modifying ovarian cancer risk may be useful for counseling women with BRCA1 and BRCA2 mutations regarding their risk of ovarian cancer.
  Human Mutation 01/2012; 33(4):690-702. · 5.69 Impact Factor