Risk of eighteen genome-wide association study-identified genetic variants for colorectal cancer and colorectal adenoma in Han Chinese

Background: Recent genome-wide association studies (GWAS) identified eighteen single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) to be significantly associated with the risk of colorectal cancer (CRC). However, overall results of the following replications are inconsistent and little is known about whether these associations also exit in colorectal adenomas (CRA). Methods: The SNP genotyping was performed using a Sequenom MassARRAY to investigate the association of these eighteen SNPs with colorectal neoplasm in a case-control study consisted of 1049 colorectal cancers, 283 adenomas, and 1030 controls. Results: Two of these SNPs, rs10505477 and rs719725, showed evidence of an association in both CRC and CRA in our study population. Besides, seven SNPs (rs10808555, rs7014346, rs7837328, rs704017, rs11196172, rs4779584, and rs7229639) were significantly associated with CRC, and another one SNP rs11903757 was over-represented in CRA compared with controls. The strongest association was provided by rs11196172 (OR = 2.02, 95% CI = 1.66 -2.46, P < 0.0001) and rs11903757 (OR = 1.96, 95% CI = 1.28 -3.00, P = 0.0026). Conclusion: These results suggest that some previously reported SNP associations also have impact on CRC and CRA predispositions in the Han Chinese population. A part of genetic risk to CRC is possibly mediated by susceptibility to adenomas.