Genome-Wide Association Study of Susceptibility Loci for TCF3-PBX1 Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia in Children

Acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) is the most common cancer in children. TCF3-PBX1 fusion defines a common molecular subtype of ALL with unique clinical features, but the molecular basis of its inherited susceptibility is unknown. In a genome-wide association study of 1494 ALL cases and 2057 non-ALL controls, we identified a germline risk locus located in an intergenic region between BCL11A and PAPOLG: rs2665658, P = 1.88 x 10(-8) for TCF3-PBX1 ALL vs non-ALL, and P = 1.70 x 10(-8) for TCF3-PBX1 ALL vs other-ALL. The lead variant was validated in a replication cohort, and conditional analyses pointed to a single causal variant with subtype-specific effect. The risk variant is located in a regulatory DNA element uniquely activated in ALL cells with the TCF3-PBX1 fusion and may distally modulate the transcription of the adjacent gene REL. Our results expand the understanding of subtype-specific ALL susceptibility and highlight plausible interplay between germline variants and somatic genomic abnormalities in ALL pathogenesis.

Automated summary

A risk locus between BCL11A and PAPOLG was identified in a study on ALL cases, with a subtype-specific effect on TCF3-PBX1 ALL. The risk variant may distally modulate the transcription of the adjacent gene REL through a regulatory DNA element activated uniquely in ALL cells with the TCF3-PBX1 fusion.