Abstract
We evaluated the association of a polymorphism in TCF7L2 (RS12255372) in the WNT signaling pathway, which previously has been strongly associated with risk of Type II Diabetes, with colorectal cancer (CRC) and adenoma in the prospective Nurses’ Health Study (NHS) and Health Professionals Follow-up Study (HPFS) cohorts. Hyperinsulinemia may be related to the risk of colon adenoma and cancer, therefore this variant associated with reduced insulin secretion would be predicted to be inversely associated with colorectal cancer. Overall, in the NHS and HPFS, there was suggestive evidence for an inverse association associated with homozygosity for the minor allele of RS12255372 (TCF7L2 TT) and CRC (conditional and covariate adjusted OR = 0.63, 95% CI: 0.37–1.08; P for heterogeneity 0.52 for the association in women and men). In summary, the marginal association of the TCF7L2 SNP with CRC might be due to chance, but warrants further laboratory and epidemiological investigation.
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Abbreviations
- CI:
-
Confidence interval
- CRC:
-
Colorectal cancer
- HPFS:
-
Health Professionals Follow-up Study
- NHS:
-
Nurses’ Health Study
- OR:
-
Odds Ratio
- SNPs:
-
Single nucleotide polymorphisms
- TCF7L2 :
-
T-cell factor 7 like 2
- T2D:
-
Type II Diabetes
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Acknowledgments
We thank Pati Soule, Hardeep Ranu, and Craig Labadie for their laboratory assistance. We are indebted to the dedicated participants of the Nurses’ Health Study and the Health Professional Follow-up Study for their ongoing commitment. This research is supported by the National Institutes of Health Research Grants NIH: CA70817, CA87969, CA55075 and The Entertainment Industry Foundation National Colorectal Cancer Research Alliance (NCCRA). A.H. is supported in part by training grant NIH T-32 CA 09001-30.
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Hazra, A., Fuchs, C.S., Chan, A.T. et al. Association of the TCF7L2 polymorphism with colorectal cancer and adenoma risk. Cancer Causes Control 19, 975–980 (2008). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10552-008-9164-3
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10552-008-9164-3