Pixabay SECTION OF GENETICS (GEN) THE SECTION OF GENETICS (GEN) COMPRISES THE GENETIC EPIDEMIOLOGY GROUP Section head (GEP), THE GENETIC CANCER SUSCEPTIBILITY GROUP (GCS), AND THE BIOstATIstICS Dr Paul Brennan GROUP (BST). THE WORK OF THE SECTION COMBINES LARGE POPULATION-BASED stUDIES WITH LABORATORY AND BIOINFORMATICS EXPERTISE TO IDENTIFY SPECIFIC GENES AND GENETIC PROFILES THAT CONTRIBUTE TO THE DEVELOPMENT OF CANCER AND ELUCIDATE HOW THEY EXERT THEIR EFFECT ALONG WITH ENVIRONMENTAL FACTORS. THE SECTION ALSO TRIES TO IDENTIFY INDIVIDUALS WHO ARE AT HIGH ENOUGH RISK THAT THEY ARE LIKELY TO BENEFIT FROM EXIstING RISK REDUCTION stRATEGIES. GEN’s projects usually involve extensive may have a larger effect than common fieldwork in collaboration with external single-nucleotide polymorphisms but investigators in order to develop large- that are not sufficiently frequent to scale epidemiological studies with be captured by current genome-wide appropriate clinical and exposure data, association genotyping arrays. GCS’s as well as biosample collection. This approach has been to use genomic and typically occurs within GEP, which bioinformatic techniques to complement has a primary interest in the analysis more traditional approaches for the study and identification of common genetic of rare genetic variants. GCS also uses susceptibility variants and their interaction genomics to explore how the variants with non-genetic risk factors. Genetic may be conferring genetic susceptibility analysis comprises either candidate to cancer. Thus, the research programme gene or genome-wide genotyping of GCS complements that of GEP, studies, as well as sequencing work. and also provides a facility for high- GEP studies also assess non-genetic throughput genomic techniques and the exposures, partly in recognition of the related bioinformatics to support GEN’s importance of non-genetic factors in large-scale molecular epidemiology driving cancer incidence, and also to projects and other IARC genomics facilitate accurate assessment of gene– projects. BST interacts at all stages to environment interactions. In contrast, provide overall statistical support within GCS places more focus on identification GEN and more widely across research of uncommon or rare genetic variants that Sections of the Agency. SECTION OF GENETICS 77 78 BIENNIAL REPORT 2014/2015 BIOstATIstICS GROUP (BST) The Biostatistics Group (BST) continued (Scelo et al., 2014), the development Group head to collaborate with several Sections at of an approach to epigenetic analysis Dr Graham Byrnes IARC. In some cases this involved the of childhood cancer risk (Ghantous et development of novel techniques, in al., 2015), and the exploration of the Secretariat others the identification of appropriate “meeting-in-the-middle” approach to Ms Isabelle Rondy standard approaches, and in all cases multi-omics analysis (Assi et al., 2015). Ms Nicole Suty (until June 2015) with the goal of ensuring the reliability of Assistant (biostatistics) scientific findings at the Agency. Other contributions included refining Mr Liacine Bouaoun the use of multiple data types to identify Methodological highlights included the germline genetic factors associated modelling contribution to the estimation with risk of aerodigestive tract cancers of global cancer burden due to overweight (Delahaye-Sourdeix et al., 2015a, 2015b). and obesity (Arnold et al., 2015a), the identification of somatic mutation Routine statistical oversight also patterns suggesting that aristolochic contributed to some articles on risk acid may be an important factor in factors for thyroid cancer (e.g. Zamora- hepatocellular carcinoma in Romania Ros et al., 2015a). BST is grateful to the following for their collaboration: John Mathews, James Dowty, John Burgess, Melbourne, Australia; Francesca Damiola, Pierre Hainaut, Lyon, France; Elisabeth Cardis, Barcelona, Spain; Sarah Darby, Oxford, United Kingdom. BIOSTATISTICS GROUP 79 80 BIENNIAL REPORT 2014/2015 GENETIC CANCER SUSCEPTIBILITY GROUP (GCS) Group head Bioinformaticians Students Dr James McKay Dr Maxime Vallée Mr Georgios Antonopoulos (until November 2014) (until March 2014) Scientists Ms Catherine Voegele Mr Thomas Boyer Dr Behnoush Abedi-Ardekani (until September 2015) Dr Lynnette Fernandez-Cuesta Secretariat Ms Manon Delahaye Dr Matthieu Foll Ms Isabelle Rondy (until November 2014) Dr Florence Le Calvez-Kelm Ms Nicole Suty Ms Tiffany Delhomme (until June 2015) Ms Violeta Facciolla Visiting scientist (until March 2014) Dr Behnoush Abedi-Ardekani Postdoctoral fellows Ms Yellana Ikdoumi (until December 2014) Dr Patrice Avogbe (until July 2014) Dr Mohd Arifin Bin Kaderi Ms Noemie Leblay Laboratory technicians (until April 2014) Ms Marion Perez Ms Amélie Chabrier Dr Lynnette Fernandez-Cuesta (until September 2014) Mr Geoffroy Durand (until December 2014) Ms Nathalie Forey Dr Maroulio Pertesi Ms Nivonirina Robinot (until April 2015) (until October 2015) GENETIC CANCER SUSCEPTIBILITY GROUP 81 The Genetic Cancer Susceptibility variants: one small-effect, common allele NPC cases from an extended pedigree Group (GCS) has two equally weighted (rs13314271, located near TP63) and two recruited from Malaysia identified 6p22.1 roles within IARC. First, GCS acts as a large-effect, rare alleles (rs17879961, a as an area of interest. This region contains laboratory, bioinformatics, and pathology missense variant [I157T] in CHEK2, and the HLA-A gene, previously implicated in resource for genomic research at the rs11571833, a truncating variant that NPC. In collaboration with the US NCI, Agency. Second, in close collaboration results in the loss of the final 93 amino GCS identified that allele HLA-A*24:07 with its Section partners the Genetic acids of BRCA2). Also, rs11571833 segregates with NPC in this pedigree. The Epidemiology Group (GEP) and was observed to be similarly strongly HLA-A*24:07 allele is relatively common the Biostatistics Group (BST), GCS associated with upper aerodigestive to Sarawak and very rare elsewhere. undertakes genetic and genomics tract cancer (Delahaye-Sourdeix et al., Work is in progress to determine whether research to identify cancer-related genes 2015a). The association noted with the this allele is associated with NPC in the and explore their mechanisms of action. CHEK2 variant validated GCS’s previous case–control study. Through this knowledge, GCS aims to observation of an inverse association provide insights into cancer etiology, with lung cancer and contrasts with the GENETIC SERVICES PLATFORM early detection, and prevention. well-described increase in risk described for this variant in other cancers. In the The Genetic Services Platform has During the 2014–2015 biennium, GCS case of BRCA2, susceptibility to lung overseen the installation of an additional has welcomed three scientists into the and upper aerodigestive tract cancer liquid-handling robot to assist in GCS’s Group: Dr Matthieu Foll, Dr Lynnette had not been previously linked to genetic laboratory protocols and the management Fernandez-Cuesta, and Dr Behnoush variation in this well-studied gene. of the almost 100 000 DNA samples, Abedi-Ardekani. Their joining the Group Both findings suggest that alternative originating from about 75 studies, that has strongly reinforced its scientific profile susceptibility mechanisms are at work are housed within GCS. In addition, in bioinformatics, somatic mutations, and and highlight how unexpected findings an Ion Torrent Proton next-generation genomic-related pathology, respectively. from agnostic genetic studies inform sequencer has been installed, and cancer etiology. collaborative links have been maintained GENOME-WIDE AssOCIATION stUDIES with local service providers to access GCS also coordinated a meta-analysis- additional genomic techniques, such One of GCS’s key scientific findings based GWAS of Hodgkin lymphoma that as Illumina (HiSeq/HiScan technology). during the biennium was through a identified a susceptibility locus near TCF3, In bioinformatics, GCS has overseen very large imputation-based genome- a gene critical to B-cell development two technical updates of IARC’s high- wide association study (GWAS) of lung (Cozen et al., 2014), and GCS was performance computer cluster and data cancer. This was undertaken through a involved in the validation of rare variants management systems, and has placed collaboration between IARC, the Institute linked with breast cancer in RINT1 (Park particular emphasis on the development of Cancer Research (United Kingdom), et al., 2014a) and the MRE11A-RAD50- of algorithms able to detect low-allele- Dartmouth College (USA), and the nibrin (MRN) complex (Damiola et al., frequency variants in the context of United States National Cancer Institute 2014a). GEN has completed recruitment targeted next-generation sequencing- (US NCI) (Wang et al., 2014a). It included of a multicentre case–control study of based resequencing. GCS has played 21 594 cancer cases and 54 156 controls, 2535 nasopharyngeal cancer (NPC) a key role in the development of the making it one of the largest genetic cases and 2652 controls from centres in Bioinformatics Steering Committee, studies of lung cancer carried out to Malaysia (Sarawak), Thailand, Singapore, a group that monitors bioinformatics date. This analysis identified three novel and Indonesia. Linkage analysis of 17 across the Agency. GCS is grateful to the following for their collaboration: Professor Gilles Thomas and his team at Synergy Lyon Cancer (Lyon, France) for high-performance computing