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Brief Communication

Nature Genetics 39, 954–956 (1 August 2007) | doi:10.1038/ng2098

A common genetic risk factor for colorectal and prostate cancer

Christopher A Haiman , Lo|[iuml]|c Le Marchand , Jennifer Yamamato , Daniel O Stram , Xin Sheng , Laurence N Kolonel , Anna H Wu , David Reich & Brian E Henderson

Variants on chromosome 8q24 contribute risk for prostate cancer; here, we tested whether they also modulate risk for colorectal cancer. We studied 1,807 affected individuals and 5,511 controls and found that one variant, rs6983267, is also significantly associated with colorectal cancer (odds ratio = 1.22; P = 4.4 |[times]| 10|[minus]|6) and that the apportionment of risk among the variants differs significantly between the two cancers.