Abstract

// Juliet D. French 1,* , Sharon E. Johnatty 1,* , Yi Lu 1,* , Jonathan Beesley 1 , Bo Gao 2 , Murugan Kalimutho 1 , Michelle J. Henderson 3 , Amanda J. Russell 3 , Siddhartha Kar 4 , Xiaoqing Chen 1 , Kristine M. Hillman 1 , Susanne Kaufmann 1 , Haran Sivakumaran 1 , Martin O'Reilly 5 , Chen Wang 6 , Darren J. Korbie 7 , Australian Ovarian Cancer Study Group 1,2,8 , Australian Cancer Study 1 , Diether Lambrechts 9,10 , Evelyn Despierre 10 , Els Van Nieuwenhuysen 10 , Sandrina Lambrechts 10 , Ignace Vergote 10 , Beth Karlan 11 , Jenny Lester 11 , Sandra Orsulic 11 , Christine Walsh 11 , Peter A. Fasching 12,13 , Matthias W. Beckmann 12 , Arif B. Ekici 42 , Alexander Hein 12 , Keitaro Matsuo 14 , Satoyo Hosono 14 , Jacobus Pisterer 15 , Peter Hillemanns 16 , Toru Nakanishi 17 , Yasushi Yatabe 18 , Marc T. Goodman 19 , Galina Lurie 20 , Rayna K. Matsuno 20 , Pamela J. Thompson 19 , Tanja Pejovic 21 , Yukie Bean 21 , Florian Heitz 22,23 , Philipp Harter 22,23 , Andreas du Bois 22,23 , Ira Schwaab 24 , Estrid Hogdall 25,26 , Susanne K. Kjaer 25,27 , Allan Jensen 25 , Claus Hogdall 27 , Lene Lundvall 27 , Svend Aage Engelholm 28 , Bob Brown 29 , James M. Flanagan 29 , Michelle D. Metcalf 29 , Nadeem Siddiqui 30 , Thomas Sellers 31 , Brooke Fridley 32 , Julie Cunningham 33 , Joellen M. Schildkraut 34,35 , Ed Iversen 36 , Rachel Palmieri Weber 34 , Donal Brennan 37 , Andrew Berchuck 38 , Paul Pharoah 4,39 , Paul Harnett 40 , Murray D. Norris 3 , Michelle Haber 3 , Ellen L. Goode 41 , Jason S. Lee 1 , Kum Kum Khanna 1 , Kerstin B. Meyer 5 , Georgia Chenevix-Trench 1,*,** , Anna deFazio 2,*,** , Stacey L. Edwards 1,*,** , Stuart MacGregor 1,*,** and on behalf of the Ovarian Cancer Association Consortium 1 QIMR Berghofer Medical Research Institute, Brisbane, Australia 2 Department of Gynaecological Oncology and Centre for Cancer Research, The Westmead Institute for Medical Research, The University of Sydney, Westmead Hospital, Sydney, Australia 3 Children's Cancer Institute Australia, Randwick, Australia 4 Centre for Cancer Genetic Epidemiology, Department of Public Health and Primary Care, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK 5 Cancer Research UK Cambridge Research Institute, Li Ka Shing Centre, Cambridge, UK 6 Department of Health Sciences Research, Division of Biomedical Statistics and Informatics, Mayo Clinic, Rochester, MN, USA 7 Australian Institute for Bioengineering and Nanotechnology, University of Queensland, Brisbane, Australia 8 Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre, Melbourne, Australia 9 Vesalius Research Center, VIB, Leuven, Belgium and Laboratory for Translational Genetics, Department of Oncology, University of Leuven, Leuven, Belgium 10 Gynecologic Oncology, Leuven Cancer Institute, University Hospitals Leuven, Leuven, Belgium 11 Women's Cancer Program at the Samuel Oschin Comprehensive Cancer Institute, Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, Los Angeles, CA, USA 12 Department of Gynecology and Obstetrics, University Hospital Erlangen, Friedrich-Alexander University Erlangen- Nuremberg, Comprehensive Cancer Center Erlangen-Nuremberg, Erlangen, Germany 13 Department of Medicine, Division of Hematology and Oncology, David Geffen School of Medicine, University of California, Los Angeles, CA, USA 14 Division of Epidemiology and Prevention, Aichi Cancer Center Research Institute, Nagoya, Aichi, Japan 15 Zentrum für Gynäkologische Onkologie, Kiel, Germany 16 Departments of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, Hannover Medical School, Hannover, Germany 17 Department of Gynecology, Aichi Cancer Center Central Hospital, Nagoya, Aichi, Japan 18 Department of Pathology and Molecular Diagnostics, Aichi Cancer Center Central Hospital, Nagoya, Aichi, Japan 19 Cancer Prevention and Control Program, Samuel Oschin Comprehensive Cancer Institute, Cedars Sinai Medical Center, Los Angeles, CA, USA 20 Cancer Epidemiology Program, University of Hawaii Cancer Center, Hawaii, USA 21 Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Oregon Health and Science University and Knight Cancer Institute, Oregon Health and Science University, Portland, OR, USA 22 Department of Gynecology and Gynecologic Oncology, Dr. Horst Schmidt Kliniken Wiesbaden, Wiesbaden, Germany 23 Department of Gynecology and Gynecologic Oncology, Kliniken Essen-Mitte, Essen, Germany 24 Institut für Humangenetik Wiesbaden, Germany 25 Danish Cancer Society Research Center, Unit of Virus, Lifestyle and Genes, Copenhagen, Denmark 26 Molecular Unit, Department of Pathology, Herlev Hospital, University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark 27 Department of Gynecology, Rigshospitalet, University of Copenhagen, Denmark 28 Department of Oncology, Rigshospitalet, University of Copenhagen, Denmark 29 Department of Surgery and Cancer, Imperial College London, London, UK 30 North Glasgow University Hospitals NHS Trust, Stobhill Hospital, Glasgow, UK 31 Department of Cancer Epidemiology, Moffitt Cancer Center, Tampa, FL, USA 32 Department of Biostatistics, University of Kansas Medical Center, Kansas City, KS, USA 33 Department of Laboratory Medicine and Pathology, Mayo Clinic, Rochester, MN, USA 34 Department of Community and Family Medicine, Duke University Medical Center, Durham, NC, USA 35 Cancer Control and Population Sciences, Duke Cancer Institute, Durham, NC, USA 36 Department of Statistical Science, Duke University, Durham, NC, USA 37 Queensland Centre for Gynaecological Cancer, Brisbane, Australia 38 Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Duke University Medical Center, Durham, NC, USA 39 Centre for Cancer Genetic Epidemiology, Department of Oncology, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK 40 Crown Princess Mary Cancer Centre and Centre for Cancer Research, The Westmead Institute for Medical Research, The University of Sydney, Westmead Hospital, Sydney, Australia 41 Department of Health Science Research, Division of Epidemiology, Mayo Clinic, Rochester, MN, USA 42 Institute of Human Genetics, Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg, Erlangen, Germany * These authors contributed equally to the study and are listed alphabetically ** These authors co-directed the study and are listed alphabetically Correspondence to: Georgia Chenevix-Trench, email: // Anna deFazio, email: // Stacey L. Edwards, email: // Stuart MacGregor, email: // Keywords : epithelial ovarian cancer, progression free survival, genome-wide association study, PSIP1, chromosome conformation capture Received : January 14, 2016 Accepted : January 21, 2016 Published : January 31, 2016 Abstract Women with epithelial ovarian cancer (EOC) are usually treated with platinum/taxane therapy after cytoreductive surgery but there is considerable inter-individual variation in response. To identify germline single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) that contribute to variations in individual responses to chemotherapy, we carried out a multi-phase genome-wide association study (GWAS) in 1,244 women diagnosed with serous EOC who were treated with the same first-line chemotherapy, carboplatin and paclitaxel. We identified two SNPs (rs7874043 and rs72700653) in TTC39B (best P=7x10 -5 , HR=1.90, for rs7874043) associated with progression-free survival (PFS). Functional analyses show that both SNPs lie in a putative regulatory element (PRE) that physically interacts with the promoters of PSIP1 , CCDC171 and an alternative promoter of TTC39B. The C allele of rs7874043 is associated with poor PFS and showed increased binding of the Sp1 transcription factor, which is critical for chromatin interactions with PSIP1 . Silencing of PSIP1 significantly impaired DNA damage-induced Rad51 nuclear foci and reduced cell viability in ovarian cancer lines. PSIP1 (PC4 and SFRS1 Interacting Protein 1) is known to protect cells from stress-induced apoptosis, and high expression is associated with poor PFS in EOC patients. We therefore suggest that the minor allele of rs7874043 confers poor PFS by increasing PSIP1 expression.