SNP-Target Genes Interaction Perturbing the Cancer Risk in the Post-GWAS

Wenmin Yang; Te Zhang; Xuming Song; Gaochao Dong; Lin Xu; Feng Jiang

doi:10.3390/cancers14225636

SNP-Target Genes Interaction Perturbing the Cancer Risk in the Post-GWAS

Cancers (Basel). 2022 Nov 17;14(22):5636. doi: 10.3390/cancers14225636.

Authors

Wenmin Yang^{1

2

3}, Te Zhang^{1

2

3}, Xuming Song^{1

2

3}, Gaochao Dong^{1

2}, Lin Xu^{1

2

3

4}, Feng Jiang^{1

2

3}

Affiliations

¹ Department of Thoracic Surgery, Nanjing Medical University Affiliated Cancer Hospital and Jiangsu Cancer Hospital and Jiangsu Institute of Cancer Research, Nanjing 210009, China.
² Jiangsu Key Laboratory of Molecular and Translational Cancer Research, Cancer Institute of Jiangsu Province, Nanjing 210009, China.
³ The Fourth Clinical College, Nanjing Medical University, Nanjing 210009, China.
⁴ Collaborative Innovation Center for Cancer Personalized Medicine, Nanjing Medical University, Nanjing 211116, China.

Abstract

Cancer ranks as the second leading cause of death worldwide, and, being a genetic disease, it is highly heritable. Over the past few decades, genome-wide association studies (GWAS) have identified many risk-associated loci harboring hundreds of single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs). Some of these cancer-associated SNPs have been revealed as causal, and the functional characterization of the mechanisms underlying the cancer risk association has been illuminated in some instances. In this review, based on the different positions of SNPs and their modes of action, we discuss the mechanisms underlying how SNPs regulate the expression of target genes to consequently affect tumorigenesis and the development of cancer.

Keywords: cancer; genome-wide association analysis; molecular and biological mechanism; single nucleotide polymorphism.

Publication types

Review

Grants and funding

This study was supported by grants from the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant No. 82073211, 82002434, 82003106, 81702892); The Project of Invigorating Health Care through Science, Technology and Education, Jiangsu Provincial Medical Innovation Team (CXTDA2017002); The Project of Invigorating Health Care through Science, Technology and Education, Jiangsu Provincial Medical Outstanding Talent (JCRCA2016001).