Common variants at 8q24 are associated with prostate cancer risk in Taiwanese men

BACKGROUND. Recently, independent genome-wide scans have found multiple genetic variants at 8q24 to be associated with prostate cancer risk. This study was performed to determine whether two of the variants more strongly associated with prostate cancer risk in European and American populations, specifically rs16901979 and rs6983561, were also associated with prostate cancer risk in Taiwanese men. METHODS. We conducted a case-control study comprising of 340 prostate patients and 336 healthy controls. Genotyping was performed for rs16901979 and rs6983561. Their association with disease stage, tumor grade, PSA level and disease aggressiveness was also determined. RESULTS. The risk allele A of rs16901979 was associated with a 1.28-fold increase in prostate cancer risk (P = 0.046), and the risk allele C of rs6983561 was associated with a 1.40-fold increase in prostate cancer risk (P = 0.006). When compared with controls, the risk allele of rs6983561 was more frequent in patients with more aggressive disease. Analysis of the cumulative risk of rs1447295, a confirmed risk variant, and one of these markers showed that compared to men who do not have any of these risk variants, men who carry any combination of 1 or 2 risk genotypes have a gradually increased prostate cancer risk (P for trend <0.001). CONCLUSION. The variants rs16901979 and rs6983561 at 8q24 are associated with prostate cancer risk in Taiwanese men.