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1 Division of Cancer Epidemiology and Genetics and 2 Pediatric Oncology Branch, National Cancer Institute, Bethesda, Maryland; 3 Department of Preventive Medicine, Seoul National University College of Medicine, Seoul, South Korea; 4 Core Genotyping Facility, Advanced Technology Center, National Cancer Institute-Frederick, Gaithersburg, Maryland; 5 Department of Gastrointestinal Medicine and Nutrition, M.D. Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, Texas; and 6 Department of Epidemiology, University of Pittsburgh Cancer Institute, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
Requests for reprints: Wen-Yi Huang, Division of Cancer Epidemiology and Genetics, National Cancer Institute, EPS 8113, MSC 7240, Bethesda, MD 20892. Phone: 301-435-4710; Fax: 301-402-1819. E-mail: huangw{at}mail.nih.gov
| Abstract |
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Methods: Cases (n = 772) were subjects with left-sided advanced adenoma (>1 cm in size, high-grade dysplasia, or villous characteristics). Controls (n = 777) were screen-negative for left-sided polyps by sigmoidoscopy. DNA was extracted from blood samples and 15 common nonsynonymous SNPs in seven-nucleotide excision repair genes [XPC, RAD23B (hHR23B), CSB (ERCC6), XPD (ERCC2), CCNH, XPF (ERCC4), and XPG (ERCC5)] were genotyped.
Results: None of the studied SNPs were independently associated with advanced adenoma risk. Smoking was related to adenoma risk and XPC polymorphisms (R492H, A499V, K939Q) modified these effects (Pinteraction from 0.03-0.003). Although the three XPC variants were in linkage disequilibrium, a multivariate logistic regression tended to show independent protective effects for XPC 499V (Ptrend = 0.06), a finding supported by haplotype analysis (covariate-adjusted global permutation P = 0.03).
Conclusions: Examining a spectrum of polymorphic variants in nucleotide excision repair genes, we found evidence that smoking-associated risks for advanced colorectal adenoma are modified by polymorphisms in XPC, particularly haplotypes containing XPC 499V. (Cancer Epidemiol Biomarkers Prev 2006;15(2):30611)
| Introduction |
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Cigarette smoking is a risk factor for colorectal adenoma and likely also for colon cancer (4). Tobacco products, such as polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, heterocyclic amines, nitrosamines, and aromatic amines, reaching the colorectal mucosa, through direct ingestion or via the circulatory system, result in DNA adducts, leading to mutations and potentially to cancer development (5). There is considerable interindividual variation in the response to genotoxic exposures, such as polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, and genetic polymorphisms in the DNA repair genes could influence DNA repair capacity and, in turn, cancer susceptibility (6).
The nucleotide excision repair pathway may have particular importance for smoking-related adenoma risk because this system removes complex bulky adducts, including those caused by polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons in tobacco smoke (7). Excision repair involves global genome repair and transcription coupled repair, involving DNA damage recognition, DNA unwinding, excision of the damage, synthesis of new DNA, gap repair, and ligation (Fig. 1; ref. 8). Damage recognition is carried out either by the XPC-hHR23B (encoded by RAD23B) protein complex in the global genome repair pathway or by RNA polymerase II, which recruits CSA and CSB (ERCC6) in transcription coupled repair. In the second step, DNA is unwound by the action of TFIIH, a nine-subunit protein complex composed of DNA helicases, XPB and XPD, and a kinase subunit cyclin H (CCNH). Replication protein A (RPA) stabilizes the unwound DNA, and XPA facilitates the assembly of DNA repair factors. The damaged DNA is then removed by XPG (ERCC5) and the XPF (ERCC4)-ERCC1 complex, which make 3' and 5' incisions, respectively, on either side of the damage. Finally, with the help of several replication accessory factors, the DNA gap is filled with new bases synthesized by DNA polymerases
and
and a DNA ligase seals the nick.
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We studied the risk for advanced colorectal adenoma in relation to 15 common single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in seven genes in the nucleotide excision repair pathwayXPC, RAD23B (hHR23B), CSB (ERCC6), XPD, CCNH, XPF, and XPGamong participants in a large colorectal cancer screening trial in the United States. All SNPs are nonsynonymous, leading to amino acid substitution in the protein product.
| Materials and Methods |
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At the baseline, subjects in the screening arm received a flexible sigmoidoscopic visualization of the distal colon (60 cm). If the sigmoidoscopic examination was suspicious for neoplasia (polyp or mass), participants were referred to their primary physicians for subsequent diagnostic follow-up, which generally resulted in a full examination of the colon by colonoscopy and surgery, if needed. Pathology reports regarding the pathologic size and location of each lesion found from colonoscopy or repeat sigmoidoscopy were obtained and coded by trained medical abstractors. Participants provided written informed consent. The study was approved by the institutional review boards of the National Cancer Institute and the 10 screening centers.
Study Population
As described previously (20, 21), a nested case-control study was conducted among participants randomized to the screening arm of the PLCO Trial, who had a successful sigmoidoscopy (insertion to at least 50 cm with >90% of mucosa visible or a suspect lesion identified), completed a risk factor questionnaire, provided a blood sample, and consented to participate in etiologic studies (n = 42,037) between September 1993 and September 1999. Of these participants, we excluded 4,834 with a self-reported history of ulcerative colitis, Crohn's disease, familial polyposis, colorectal polyps, Gardner's syndrome, or cancer (except basal cell skin cancer). We randomly selected 772 of 1,234 cases with at least one advanced colorectal adenoma (adenoma
1 cm or containing high-grade dysplasia or villous characteristics) in the distal colon (descending colon and sigmoid or rectum) and 777 controls without evidence of a polyp or other suspicious lesion in the distal colon (i.e., a negative sigmoidoscopy screening) at baseline, frequency-matched to the cases by gender and ethnicity.
Questionnaire Data
Participants completed a baseline risk factor questionnaire in which they reported their body size and the use of tobacco, alcohol, selected drugs, and hormones, and a 137-item food frequency questionnaire in which they reported their usual dietary intake over the 12 months before enrollment. Detailed information on smoking history was collected, including ages started and stopped, total years of use, amount usually used, and type of tobacco used (cigarettes, pipes, and cigars). Subjects who did not smoke or only smoked cigarettes for <6 months or only smoked pipes or cigars for <1 year were considered to be nonsmokers. For evaluation of risks in relation to time period of cigarette use, cigarette users were classified as long-term quitters (quit
10 years before enrollment) and current or recent smokers (quit <10 year before enrollment).
Genotype Assay
DNA samples were obtained from stored blood samples using Qiagen standard protocols (QIAamp DNA Blood Midi or Maxi kit: (http://www1.qiagen.com/default.aspx). Fifteen SNPs in seven DNA repair genes, XPC (R492H, A499V, K939Q), RAD23B (hHR23B, A249V), CSB (ERCC6, M1097V, R1230P, Q1413R), XPD (ERCC2, D312N, K751Q), CCNH (V270A), XPF (ERCC4, R379S, R415Q), and XPG (ERCC5, M254V, C529S, D1104H) were genotyped. All assays were validated and optimized at the National Cancer Institute Core Genotyping Facility as described on the website (http://snp500cancer.nci.nih.gov; ref. 22). Internal laboratory quality controls consisted of Coriell DNA samples containing the homozygous major allele, heterozygous, and homozygous minor allele genotypes for each polymorphism under study with four of each control type and four no template controls in every 384 samples. For external blinded quality controls, we interspersed
10% repeated quality control samples from 40 individuals. The blinded samples showed >99% interassay concordance for all assays. Approximately 8% of individuals were excluded because of insufficient DNA (7%) or fingerprint profile review showing subject-specific ambiguities (1%). Of those remaining, genotype data were successfully obtained for an average of 94% (90-98%) of study subjects.
| Statistical Analysis |
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2 test or exact test if cell counts were small. Odds ratios (OR) and 95% confidence intervals (95% CI) for the genotype associations were obtained using unconditional logistic regression, adjusting for gender, race (White, Black, and others), and age (55-59, 60-64, 65-69, and 70-74 years). Trend tests were done using a score of 0, 1, or 2 for each genotype in a logistic regression model. Statistical significance of the multiplicative interaction between DNA repair genotype and smoking was assessed by comparing nested models with and without cross-product terms (assuming linearity for smoking-related risk) using a likelihood ratio statistic. Adenoma risks associated with haplotypes defined by the SNPs within the same gene were assessed using HaploStats (http://www.mayo.edu/hsr/people/schaid.html), which uses the expectation-maximization algorithm to estimate haplotypes. A global score test was used to evaluate overall differences in haplotype frequencies between cases and controls adjusted for covariates (23), and the effect of individual haplotypes on adenoma risk was assessed using the generalized linear model implemented in HaploStats (23, 24). Multiplicative interaction between XPC haplotypes and smoking was assessed by comparing nested models, with and without cross-product terms (assuming linearity for smoking-related risk), using a likelihood ratio statistic. | Results |
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10 years). Risk relationships for level (OR, 1.7; 95% CI, 1.3-2.2 for >20 cigarettes/d) and pack-years of use (OR, 1.8; 95% CI, 1.3-2.3 for
30 pack-years) were weaker, showing the importance of recent exposure in relation to adenoma risk.
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The three XPC SNPs were in strong linkage disequilibrium (D' = 1.0 for all pairwise comparisons; specific r2 in Fig. 2), yet, including all three SNPs in a logistic regression analysis in current and recent smokers, tended to show statistically independent risk relationships only for the XPC 499 polymorphism (Ptrend = 0.06). Haplotype analysis inferred by the expectation-maximization algorithm showed that the three SNPs distributed in four common haplotypes (A, 40%; B, 36%; C, 18%; D, 5%; specifics by smoking subgroups in Table 4). As with the genotypes, haplotype analysis revealed no overall association with adenoma risk (Pglobal permutation = 0.6); however, again, risk differentials were noted among current and recent smokers (Pglobal permutation = 0.03) due largely to lower risks associated with haplotypes C and D, possibly driven by the above described genotype relationship with XPC 499V.
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| Discussion |
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XPC, located on chromosome 3p25, is a 33-kb-long gene containing 16 exons, encoding a 940-amino-acid protein involved in DNA damage recognition (15). The XPC SNPs evaluated in this study are located in exons 8 and 15 (9, 26, 27). Although the coding variants lead to amino acid substitution, their functional significance is uncertain; the 939K allele was associated with reduced repair of single-strand breaks measured by alkaline Comet assay (11), although XPC A499V and XPC K939Q did not show functional correlations in the post-UV host cell reactivation-based complementation assay.
Two other common polymorphisms in XPC are of interest (Fig. 2). A common biallelic poly(AT) insertion (+) polymorphism in intron 9 has been associated with an increased risk of head and neck cancer (28) and is related to differential removal of UV photoproducts in the host-cell reactivation assay (10). A common C > A SNP 3' of the XPC intron 11 splice acceptor site was related to increased formation of the XPC mRNA non-exon 12 isoform, resulting in diminished DNA repair (9).
These polymorphisms are in strong linkage disequilibrium with the K939Q SNP in exon 15 [939Q variant was correlated with the poly(AT) insertion and 5 A splice acceptor site with D' = 1.0 and r2 = 0.9 for both; Fig. 2] in Caucasians (9), and, by the linkage disequilibrium relationships shown here, must also be partially linked to the XPC R492H and XPC A499V variants (939Q variant was correlated in our study with the 492R and 499A alleles, r2 = 0.04 and 0.2, respectively; refs. 13, 15).
The functional data on the XPC poly(AT) insertion (+) and 5 A acceptor site variants (9-11) are of further interest in relation to differential smoking-related risks of colorectal adenoma found in our study, as similar predictive effects were noted for smoking-related head and neck cancer (28) and lung cancer (29), and the tightly linked XPC 939Q variant was associated with increased bladder cancer risk in one study (30), although not in another study (31).
Subjects in this study came from 10 different screening centers representing a broad population distribution in the United States. The cases and controls were comparable, randomly selected from the same source population, and screened by a standardized procedure (i.e., cases were not screened based on symptoms). The large study population allowed us to confine the analysis to cases with advanced adenoma, a particularly meaningful intermediate outcome with higher potential for malignant transformation. Although this fairly large sample size allowed us to explore genetic interrelationships with smoking-related adenoma risk, we had limited statistical power to make any confident conclusion. Reliable genotype data were ensured by high success and reproducibility rates. Our subjects, however, were largely Caucasians and better educated. As another consideration, in studying prevalent cases identified from the initial baseline screening, we may be oversampling slow-growing adenoma (the so-called length-sampling bias). As the PLCO Trial continues to identify additional prevalent adenomas as well as incident adenomas and colorectal cancers, we will have opportunities to address some of the limitations.
In summary, we found that three linked XPC alleles, 492R, 499A, and 939Q, were associated with increased risk of colorectal adenoma in smokers, potentially related to functional changes due to amino acid substitution or to linkage with other functional polymorphisms in the gene. Our finding on adenoma and supporting data from some functional (9-11) and epidemiologic studies of smoking-related cancers (28-30) suggest a critical role of XPC in repairing DNA damage (e.g., bulky adducts) caused by tobacco carcinogens (e.g., polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, heterocyclic amines, nitrosamines, and aromatic amines). These results for XPC variants, tobacco use, and adenoma, along with the smoking-related adenoma risk modifications by variants of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon metabolism-related genes (e.g., EPHX1, NQO1, CYP1A1, and GSTT1) that we have previously observed in this population (20, 21, 32), support the importance of genetic susceptibility to tobacco-related colorectal carcinogenesis. Although we found no relation between other nucleotide excision repair genes and smoking-related adenoma risk, potential effects by unidentified genetic variants cannot be ruled out. Confirmation in other studies of colorectal tumors and investigations of other genes and variants in this pathway and other major DNA repair pathways are needed to clarify the underlying mechanisms of DNA repair in the development of colorectal cancer.
| Acknowledgments |
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| Footnotes |
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The costs of publication of this article were defrayed in part by the payment of page charges. This article must therefore be hereby marked advertisement in accordance with 18 U.S.C. Section 1734 solely to indicate this fact.
Received 9/29/05; revised 11/16/05; accepted 12/15/05.
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