Barrett's oesophagus, a condition usually caused by chronic exposure to stomach acid, is a precursor state to the development of oesophageal adenocarcinoma; however, only a small fraction of those with Barrett's oesophagus develop cancer. Data from a newly published meta-analysis of genome-wide association studies of this association reveal the presence of 14 genetic risk loci that confer an increased risk of both Barrett's oesophagus and oesophageal adenocarcinoma. A number of these genetic risk loci were previously unreported, meaning that they were not detected in the cohorts of each individual study alone. The strongest association among any of the newly identified risk loci was with a single-nucleotide polymorphism in the CFTR gene. This association is supported by the established link between cystic fibrosis and oesophageal cancer; although, the mechanisms of both this link, and the association reported following this analysis are unclear.
References
Gharahkhani, P. et al. Genome-wide association studies in oesophageal adenocarcinoma and Barrett's oesophagus: a large-scale meta-analysis. Lancet Oncol. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/S1470-2045(16)30240-6 (2016).
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Sidaway, P. Novel oesophageal cancer risk loci identified. Nat Rev Clin Oncol 13, 591 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1038/nrclinonc.2016.141
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/nrclinonc.2016.141