Common genetic variants in the 8q24 region and risk of papillary thyroid cancer

Objectives/Hypothesis: Single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in the 8q24 chromosomal region identified from genome-wide scans have been associated with the risk of several cancers, including breast (rs1562430), prostate (rs1447295), and colon (rs6983267). A genome-wide scan in 26 families with papillary thyroid cancer (PTC) also found susceptibility loci in 8q24, supporting a closer evaluation of this chromosomal region in relation to the risk of sporadic PTC. Study Design: Case-control study. Methods: We evaluated 157 tag SNPs in the 8q24 chromosomal region between 120.91 Mb and 128.78 Mb (including rs1562430, rs1447295, and rs6983267) in a case-control study of 344 PTC cases and 452 age and gender frequency-matched controls. We used logistic regression to estimate odds ratios and compute P values of linear trend for PTC with genotypes of interest. To account for multiple comparisons, we applied the false discovery rate (FDR) method. Results: We did not find a significant association between rs1562430, rs1447295, or rs6983267 and PTC risk. We found that one SNP (rs4733616) was associated with PTC risk at P =.003, and 12 other SNPs were associated with PTC risk at P <.05. However, no SNPs remained significant after FDR correction. Conclusions: Our findings do not support a strong association between SNPs in the 8q24 chromosomal region and risk of sporadic PTC, but several SNPs with small effects might exist.