Webcast: Genome Wide SNP and CNV Association Studies Identify Genetic Factors for Lung Cancer

Presenter: Christopher Amos, PhD., MD Anderson Cancer Center

Date: October 28, 2008

Duration: 60 Minutes

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Abstract

n this exclusive Golden Helix webcast event Dr. Christopher Amos will describe the approaches he and his team at The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center have taken in identifying genetic factors influencing the risk for lung cancer development.

Family studies show a 2.5 fold higher risk for lung cancer among relatives of lung cancer cases who smoke compared to smoking relatives of controls. This statistic, combined with very few repeatable findings of genetic associations between markers and lung cancer susceptibility, led Dr. Amos and his team to conduct a whole genome association study. For the initial scan they used Illumina Hap300 arrays for genotyping and performed analyses using Golden Helix's HelixTree, PLINK and Eigenstrat. For confirmation they used data from additional individuals that have been genotyped in Texas and in England. Further analyses show the locus on chromosome 15 that they identified has a dual effect of being associated with increased lung cancer risk as well as heavier smoking.

Dr. Amos and his team are also conducting copy number analyses to identify variation in DNA associated with lung cancer risk. Finally, joint analyses are also being performed using existing data from other groups to improve the power to detect associations.

About the Presenter

Dr. Amos is the deputy ad-interim chair of the Department of Epidemiology and leads the Computational and Genetic Epidemiology Section. He also directs the Human Pedigree Analysis Resource, a core facility of the Cancer Center Support Grant, which supports research for individuals with increased familial risk for developing cancer. His research has ranged from investigating familial factors for prostate, head and neck, lung and colon cancers to study of Peutz-Jeghers syndrome, a rare syndrome predisposing to polyps and multiple cancers. Dr. Amos is leading a study to identify genetic risk factors for lung cancer using a genome-wide association approach. By this method, his team identified a novel locus influencing lung cancer susceptibility in a region of chromosome 15q containing acetyl-cholinergic acid receptors. Dr. Amos has directed the statistical genetics core for the North American Rheumatoid Arthritis Consortium and the Genetic Epidemiology of Lung Cancer Consortium. He also directs the informatics core of Dr. Strong’s P-01 entitled mutational model for childhood cancer and of a grant from Genome Ontario. Dr. Amos serves as the Secretary/Treasurer for the International Genetic Epidemiology Society and has served as its President.