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AbstractBackgroundEpidemiological studies have demonstrated a positive association between chronic lymphocytic leukaemia (CLL) and non-melanoma skin cancer (NMSC). We hypothesized that shared genetic risk factors between CLL and NMSC could contribute to the association observed between these diseases.MethodsWe examined the association between (i) established NMSC susceptibility loci and CLL risk in a meta-analysis including 3100 CLL cases and 7667 controls and (ii) established CLL loci and NMSC risk in a study of 4242 basal cell carcinoma (BCC) cases, 825 squamous cell carcinoma (SCC) cases and 12802 controls. Polygenic risk scores (PRS) for CLL, BCC and SCC were constructed using established loci. Logistic regression was used to estimate odds ratios (ORs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs).ResultsHigher CLL-PRS was associated with increased BCC risk (OR4th-quartile-vs-1st-quartile = 1.13, 95% CI: 1.02–1.24, Ptrend = 0.009), even after removing the shared 6p25.3 locus. No association was observed with BCC-PRS and CLL risk (Ptrend = 0.68). These findings support a contributory role for CLL in BCC risk, but not for BCC in CLL risk. Increased CLL risk was observed with higher SCC-PRS (OR4th-quartile-vs-1st-quartile = 1.22, 95% CI: 1.08–1.38, Ptrend = 1.36 × 10–5), which was driven by shared genetic susceptibility at the 6p25.3 locus.ConclusionThese findings highlight the role of pleiotropy regarding the pathogenesis of CLL and NMSC and shows that a single pleiotropic locus, 6p25.3, drives the observed association between genetic susceptibility to SCC and increased CLL risk. The study also provides evidence that genetic susceptibility for CLL increases BCC risk.

Abstract Background Recent genome wide association studies (GWAS) of Hodgkin lymphoma (HL) have identified several associations at both HLA and non-HLA loci. However, much of HL heritability remains unexplained. Methods To identify novel risk loci, we performed a meta-analysis of 3 HL GWAS including a total of 1,810 cases and 7,879 controls. Results were replicated in an independent set of 1,163 cases and 2,580 controls, for a total of 3,097 and 11,097 cases and controls combined, respectively. participants in discovery and replication stages were of European descent. quality control and imputation we conducted a meta-analysis addressing 1,004,829 variants (λ= 1.10, λ1000= 1.03). Associations between SNP genotypes and HL risk were evaluated under a log-additive model of inheritance adjusting for sex, study center and significant principal components to control for population stratification. We performed an analysis with all HL cases and then conducted stratified analyses by histological subtype (classical, nodular sclerosis and mixed cellularity), age at diagnosis (nodular sclerosis among those diagnosed at 15- 35 years in all studies, and those diagnosed at 35 and older years in the European Study only) and EBV tumor status (negative and positive). We then used a bioinformatic approach (FunciSNP) to identify potential functional variants associated with HD risk correlated with risk loci of interest. We extracted publically available ENCODE data on biofeatures to identify potential functional motifs associated with the index SNP or correlated SNPs. Finally, we measured expression levels of the two alternative mRNA transcripts in lymphoblastoid cell lines (LCLs) from 49 post-therapy HL patients and 25 unaffected controls. RT-PCR was carried out in triplicate. Relative expression levels were calculated relative to TBP as housekeeping gene. Linear models were used to assess correlation between genotype and TCF3expression levels. Results The meta-analysis identified a novel susceptibility variant at chromosome 19p13.3 (rs1860661) associated with HL risk (Odds Ratio [OR]= 0.78, P=2.0*10-8, I2=0%). variant is located in intron 2 of TCF3 (also known as E2A), a regulator of B- and T-cell lineage commitment. was also significantly associated with HL (OR= 0.85, P=0.002) in the replication series of 1,281 cases and 3,218 controls. the combined analysis consisting of the discovery and replication sets, rs1860661was strongly associated with HL (OR=0.81,=3.5*10-10), with no evidence of heterogeneity between contributing studies (Phom=0.41, I2=0%). The number of G alleles defined by rs1860661 was significantly associated with a reduced risk of each HL subtype except EBV positive HL. rs1860661 and two correlated SNPs, rs10413888 (r2=0.90) and rs8103453 (r2=0.89) identified by FunciSNP analysis map in or near marks of open chromatin and in DNAse hypersensitivity sites in TCF3 in CD20+ B cell lines., the protective minor alleles of these SNPs as defined by the G-G-G haplotype map to the binding sites for ZBTB7a (rs10413888 and rs1860661) and (rs8103453) transcription factors, likely improving the binding efficiency to the sites which may result in increased transcription rates of TCF3. TCF3 is encoded by two alternative transcripts (E12 and E47). Higher expression levels of TCF3-E47, whose transcription start site is located close to rs1860661, was associated with the rs1860661-G allele in controls (P=0.02), but not in HL patients (P=0.22). Conclusion/Discussion TCF3 is essential for the commitment of lymphoid progenitors to both B-cell and T-cell lineage development. A molecular and phenotypic hallmark of classical HL is the loss of the B-cell phenotype in HRS cells, including lack of demonstrable B-cell receptor and most B-cell specific markers such as CD19 or CD20. HRS cells have a low level of TCF3, particularly homodimers of the isoform E47, due to expression of the ABF-1 and ID2 inhibitors that bind to TCF3. Thus, higher TCF3 levels in HRS precursor cells may lead to enhanced retention of the B cell phenotype, thereby conferring a protective effect. These data suggest a link between the 19p13.3 locus including TCF3 and HL risk, indicating that TCF3 could be relevant to HL etiology and pathogenesis. Disclosures: Link: Genentech: Consultancy; Millenium: Consultancy; Pharmacyclics: Consultancy; Spectrum: Consultancy.

Abstract Background. A recent meta-analysis of 9 case-control and 5 cohort studies reported a positive association of transfusion history with risk of NHL (RR=1.20; 95% CI 1.07-1.35), which was only evident in cohort (RR=1.25) and not case-control (RR=1.05) studies (Castillo et al., Blood 2010;116:2897-2907). Risk was similar in men and women, and for transfusions before or after 1992. In subset analyses, elevated risk was only apparent for chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) and not diffuse large B-Cell lymphoma (DLBCL) or follicular lymphoma, but power was low. To further investigate these findings, particularly from studies conducted after 1990, better assess confounding, and address heterogeneity by NHL subtypes, we conducted an individual-level, pooled analysis of 13 case-control studies in the InterLymph Consortium (including 11 studies conducted after 1990; 8 studies were not included in the published meta-analysis). Methods. There were a total of 10,805 cases and 14,026 controls with transfusion data from 13 studies conducted in Europe, North America, and Australia. Transfusion history and other risk factors were self-reported in interviewer-administered or self-administered questionnaires. All risk factor data were harmonized centrally, and cases were grouped into NHL subtypes according to the WHO classification using guidelines from the InterLymph Pathology Working Group. Odds ratios (OR) and 95% confidence intervals (CI) were calculated using logistic regression, adjusted for age, sex, and study center. Results. The median age at diagnosis was 60 years for cases (range, 18-97) and 59 years for controls (range, 16-97). The overall prevalence of a history of any transfusion in controls was 15.5%, was higher in women (18.6%) than men (13.0%), and increased with age, but was not associated with race/ethnicity (Asian, Black, Hispanic, White, other) or geographic region after adjusting for age and sex. Among whites, history of any transfusion was inversely associated with NHL risk among men (OR=0.74; 95% CI 0.65-0.83) but not women (OR=0.92; 95% CI 0.83-1.03); there were no significant results for other race/ethnicity groups, and ORs were highly variable and imprecise due to small sample sizes. Thus analyses were restricted to white men, where there was no trend with the number of transfusions, time since first transfusion, age at first transfusion, or decade of first transfusion. Further adjustment for socioeconomic status, body mass index, smoking, alcohol use or hepatitis C virus (HCV) seropositivity did not alter these results. The associations were stronger in hospital-based (OR=0.56; 95% CI 0.45-0.70) than population-based (OR=0.84; 95% CI 0.72-0.98) studies, and were stronger in studies from Southern Europe (OR=0.53; 95% CI 0.36-0.79) than northern Europe (OR=0.67; 95% CI 0.53-0.83) or North America (OR=0.82; 95% CI 0.70-0.98). For NHL subtypes, statistically significant inverse associations were observed for follicular lymphoma (OR=0.70; 95% CI 0.56-0.88), DLBCL (OR=0.72; 95% CI 0.59-0.87), and CLL/SLL (OR=0.67; 95% CI 0.52-0.87), whereas weaker and non-statistically significant associations were observed for mantle cell (OR=0.81; 95% CI 0.54-1.23), marginal zone (OR=0.78; 95% CI 0.54-1.15), lymphoplasmacytic (OR=0.82; 95% CI 0.47-1.42) and peripheral T-cell (OR=0.83; 95% CI 0.49-1.40) lymphomas. Conclusion. Contrary to earlier results, transfusion history was inversely associated with risk of NHL and the common subtypes of follicular lymphoma, DLBCL and CLL/SLL among white men, whereas associations were null among white women and other racial/ethnic groups. These results were not explained by confounding by lifestyle factors or HCV seropositivity, era of first transfusion, hospital versus population-based study design, or geographic location. Despite dramatic changes in transfusion practice over the past 40 years, results were similar for decade of first transfusion, suggesting secular trends are a less likely explanation. Our results are unexpected and bias cannot be ruled out. Further studies, particularly cohort studies, are needed to clarify the role of transfusion history in NHL risk. Disclosures No relevant conflicts of interest to declare.

Abstract A growing number of loci within the human leukocyte antigen (HLA) region have been implicated in non-Hodgkin lymphoma (NHL) etiology. Here, we test a complementary hypothesis of “heterozygote advantage” regarding the role of HLA and NHL, whereby HLA diversity is beneficial and homozygous HLA loci are associated with increased disease risk. HLA alleles at class I and II loci were imputed from genome-wide association studies (GWAS) using SNP2HLA for 3,617 diffuse large B-cell lymphomas (DLBCL), 2,686 follicular lymphomas (FL), 2,878 chronic lymphocytic leukemia/small lymphocytic lymphomas (CLL/SLL), 741 marginal zone lymphomas (MZL), and 8,753 controls of European descent. Both DLBCL and MZL risk were elevated with homozygosity at class I HLA-B and -C loci (OR DLBCL = 1.31, 95% CI = 1.06–1.60; OR MZL = 1.45, 95% CI = 1.12–1.89) and class II HLA-DRB1 locus (OR DLBCL = 2.10, 95% CI = 1.24–3.55; OR MZL = 2.10, 95% CI = 0.99–4.45). Increased FL risk was observed with the overall increase in number of homozygous HLA class II loci (P trend < 0.0001, FDR = 0.0005). These results support a role for HLA zygosity in NHL etiology and suggests that distinct immune pathways may underly the etiology of the different NHL subtypes. Significance: HLA gene diversity reduces risk for non-Hodgkin lymphoma. Cancer Res; 78(14); 4086–96. ©2018 AACR.

Key Points PRS, based on the known CLL loci, predicts CLL risk with high discrimination. This PRS predicts risk of monoclonal B-cell lymphocytosis, a precursor to CLL and a condition that has clinical impact beyond risk for CLL.

AbstractWe performed a pooled analysis of data on atopic disease and risk of non–Hodgkin lymphoma (NHL) from 13 case-control studies, including 13,535 NHL cases and 16,388 controls. Self-reported atopic diseases diagnosed 2 years or more before NHL diagnosis (cases) or interview (controls) were analyzed. Pooled odds ratios (OR) and 95% confidence intervals (95% CI) were computed in two-stage random-effects or joint fixed-effects models, and adjusted for age, sex, and study center. When modeled individually, lifetime history of asthma, hay fever, specific allergy (excluding hay fever, asthma, and eczema), and food allergy were associated with a significant reduction in NHL risk, and there was no association for eczema. When each atopic condition was included in the same model, reduced NHL risk was only associated with a history of allergy (OR, 0.80; 95% CI, 0.68–0.94) and reduced B-cell NHL risk was associated with history of hay fever (OR, 0.85; 95% CI, 0.77–0.95) and allergy (OR, 0.84; 95% CI, 0.76–0.93). Significant reductions in B-cell NHL risk were also observed in individuals who were likely to be truly or highly atopic—those with hay fever, allergy, or asthma and at least one other atopic condition over their lifetime. The inverse associations were consistent for the diffuse large B-cell and follicular subtypes. Eczema was positively associated with lymphomas of the skin; misdiagnosis of lymphoma as eczema is likely, but progression of eczema to cutaneous lymphoma cannot be excluded. This pooled study shows evidence of a modest but consistent reduction in the risk of B-cell NHL associated with atopy. [Cancer Res 2009;69(16):6482–9]

AbstractA role for genetic susceptibility in non-Hodgkin lymphoma (NHL) is supported by the accumulating evidence of common genetic variations altering NHL risk. However, the pattern of NHL heritability remains poorly understood. We conducted a pooled analysis of 10 211 NHL cases and 11 905 controls from the International Lymphoma Epidemiology Consortium (InterLymph) to evaluate NHL risk among those with hematopoietic malignancies in first-degree relatives. Odds ratios (ORs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) of NHL and its subtypes were estimated from unconditional logistic regression models with adjustment for confounders. NHL risk was elevated for individuals who reported first-degree relatives with NHL (OR = 1.5; 95% CI = 1.2-1.9), Hodgkin lymphoma (OR = 1.6; 95% CI = 1.1-2.3), and leukemia (OR = 1.4; 95% CI = 1.2-2.7). Risk was highest among individuals who reported a brother with NHL (OR = 2.8; 95% CI = 1.6-4.8) and was consistent for all NHL subtypes evaluated. If a first-degree relative had Hodgkin lymphoma, NHL risk was highest if the relative was a parent (OR = 1.7; 95% CI = 1.0-2.9). If a first-degree relative had leukemia, NHL risk was highest among women who reported a sister with leukemia (OR = 3.0; 95% CI = 1.6-5.6). The pattern of NHL heritability appeared to be uniform across NHL subtypes, but risk patterns differed by specific hematopoietic malignancies and the sex of the relative, revealing critical clues to disease etiology.