Genetic Susceptibility Markers Of Multiple Myeloma In African-Americans

Multiple myeloma (MM) is 2-3 times more common among African-Americans compared to non-Hispanic whites. The 2-3-fold increased risk among family members of cases suggests a genetic contribution to risk. Genome-wide association studies (GWAS) in populations of European ancestry have identified seven novel risk loci at 2p23.3 (rs6746082), 3q26.2 (rs10936599), 3p22.1 (rs1052501), 6p21.32 (rs2285803), 7p15.3 (rs4487645), 17p11.2 (rs4273077) and 22q13.1 (rs877529) (Broderick, et al. Nat Genet, 2011, Chubb, et al. Nat Genet, 2013), three of which were replicated in another European series (Martino et al., Br J Haematol, 2012). Here we examined the index signals and conducted fine-mapping for each locus in a case-control study of 1,049 multiple myeloma cases and 7,084 controls of African ancestry to identify better markers of risk and novel independent loci in seven previously reported regions in this high risk population.