Osteosarcoma is the most common primary bone malignancy of adolescents and young adults. In order to better understand the genetic etiology of osteosarcoma, we performed a multi-stage genome-wide association study (GWAS) consisting of 941 cases and 3,291 cancer-free adult controls of European ancestry. Two loci achieved genome-wide significance: rs1906953 at 6p21.3, in the glutamate receptor metabotropic 4 [GRM4] gene (P = 8.1 ×10-9), and rs7591996 and rs10208273 in a gene desert on 2p25.2 (P = 1.0 ×10-8 and 2.9 ×10-7). These two susceptibility loci warrant further exploration to uncover the biological mechanisms underlying susceptibility to osteosarcoma.

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Background: Studies of related individuals have consistently demonstrated notable familial aggregation of cancer. We aim to estimate the heritability and genetic correlation attributable to the additive effects of common single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) for cancer at 13 anatomical sites.

Genome-wide association studies (GWAS) have mapped risk alleles for at least 10 distinct cancers to a small region of 63 000 bp on chromosome 5p15.33. This region harbors the TERT and CLPTM1L genes; the former encodes the catalytic subunit of telomerase reverse transcriptase and the latter may play a role in apoptosis. To investigate further the genetic architecture of common susceptibility alleles in this region, we conducted an agnostic subset-based meta-analysis (association analysis based on subsets) across six distinct cancers in 34 248 cases and 45 036 controls. Based on sequential conditional analysis, we identified as many as six independent risk loci marked by common single-nucleotide polymorphisms: five in the TERT gene (Region 1: rs7726159, P = 2.10 × 10(-39); Region 3: rs2853677, P = 3.30 × 10(-36) and PConditional = 2.36 × 10(-8); Region 4: rs2736098, P = 3.87 × 10(-12) and PConditional = 5.19 × 10(-6), Region 5: rs13172201, P = 0.041 and PConditional = 2.04 × 10(-6); and Region 6: rs10069690, P = 7.49 × 10(-15) and PConditional = 5.35 × 10(-7)) and one in the neighboring CLPTM1L gene (Region 2: rs451360; P = 1.90 × 10(-18) and PConditional = 7.06 × 10(-16)). Between three and five cancers mapped to each independent locus with both risk-enhancing and protective effects. Allele-specific effects on DNA methylation were seen for a subset of risk loci, indicating that methylation and subsequent effects on gene expression may contribute to the biology of risk variants on 5p15.33. Our results provide strong support for extensive pleiotropy across this region of 5p15.33, to an extent not previously observed in other cancer susceptibility loci.

Metastasis is the leading cause of death in osteosarcoma patients, the most common pediatric bone malignancy. We conducted a multi-stage genome-wide association study of osteosarcoma metastasis at diagnosis in 935 osteosarcoma patients to determine whether germline genetic variation contributes to risk of metastasis. We identified a SNP, rs7034162, in NFIB significantly associated with metastasis in European osteosarcoma cases, as well as in cases of African and Brazilian ancestry (meta-analysis of all cases: P=1.2×10−9, OR 2.43, 95% CI 1.83–3.24). The risk allele was significantly associated with lowered NFIB expression, which led to increased osteosarcoma cell migration, proliferation, and colony formation. Additionally, a transposon screen in mice identified a significant proportion of osteosarcomas harboring inactivating insertions in Nfib, and had lowered Nfib expression. These data suggest that germline genetic variation at rs7034162 is important in osteosarcoma metastasis, and that NFIB is an osteosarcoma metastasis susceptibility gene.

The etiologic contribution of germline genetic variation to sporadic osteosarcoma is not well understood. Osteosarcoma is a sentinel cancer of Li-Fraumeni syndrome (LFS), in which approximately 70% of families meeting the classic criteria have germline TP53 mutations. We sequenced TP53 exons in 765 osteosarcoma cases. Data were analyzed with χ(2) tests, logistic regression, and Cox proportional hazards regression models. We observed a high frequency of young osteosarcoma cases (age <30 years) carrying a known LFS- or likely LFS-associated mutation (3.8%) or rare exonic variant (5.7%) with an overall frequency of 9.5%, compared with none in case patients age 30 years and older (P < .001). This high TP53 mutation prevalence in young osteosarcoma cases is statistically significantly greater than the previously reported prevalence of 3% (P = .0024). We identified a novel association between a TP53 rare variant and metastasis at diagnosis of osteosarcoma (rs1800372, odds ratio = 4.27, 95% confidence interval = 1.2 to 15.5, P = .026). Genetic susceptibility to young onset osteosarcoma is distinct from older adult onset osteosarcoma, with a high frequency of LFS-associated and rare exonic TP53 variants.

ABSTRACT

BackgroundStandard treatment for osteosarcoma patients consists of a combination of cisplatin, adriamycin, and methotrexate before surgical resection of the primary tumour, followed by postoperative chemotherapy including vincristine and cyclophosphamide. Unfortunately, many patients still relapse or suffer adverse events. We examined whether common germline polymorphisms in chemotherapeutic transporter and metabolic pathway genes of the drugs used in standard osteosarcoma treatment may predict treatment response.Methodology/Principal FindingsIn this study we screened 102 osteosarcoma patients for 346 Single Nucleotide Polymorphisms (SNPs) and 2 Copy Number Variants (CNVs) in 24 genes involved in the metabolism or transport of cisplatin, adriamycin, methotrexate, vincristine, and cyclophosphamide. We studied the association of the genotypes with tumour response and overall survival. We found that four SNPs in two ATP-binding cassette genes were significantly associated with overall survival: rs4148416 in ABCC3 (per-allele HR = 8.14, 95%CI = 2.73-20.2, p-value = 5.1×10−5), and three SNPs in ABCB1, rs4148737 (per-allele HR = 3.66, 95%CI = 1.85–6.11, p-value = 6.9×10−5), rs1128503 and rs10276036 (r2 = 1, per-allele HR = 0.24, 95%CI = 0.11–0.47 p-value = 7.9×10−5). Associations with these SNPs remained statistically significant after correction for multiple testing (all corrected p-values [permutation test] ≤0.03).ConclusionsOur findings suggest that these polymorphisms may affect osteosarcoma treatment efficacy. If these associations are independently validated, these variants could be used as genetic predictors of clinical outcome in the treatment of osteosarcoma, helping in the design of individualized therapy.