Genetic variants in chromatin-remodeling pathway associated with lung cancer risk in a Chinese population

• We evaluated the associations of SNPs in chromatin-remodeling pathway with lung cancer risk.
• Four SNPs in chromatin-remodeling pathway were identified associated with lung cancer risk.
• Genotype of rs6808523 was probably to be eQTL SNP for SATB1 in TCGA database.

Chromatin remodeling complexes utilize the energy of ATP hydrolysis to remodel nucleosomes and have essential roles in transcriptional modulation. Increasing evidences indicate that these complexes directly interact with numerous proteins and regulate the formation of cancer. However, few studies reported the association of polymorphisms in chromatin remodeling genes and lung cancer. We hypothesized that variants in critical genes of chromatin remodeling pathway might contribute to the susceptibility of lung cancer. To validate this hypothesis, we systematically screened 40 polymorphisms in six key chromatin remodeling genes (SMARCA5, SMARCC2, SMARCD2, ARID1A, NR3C1 and SATB1) and evaluated them with a case-control study including 1341 cases and 1982 controls. Logistic regression revealed that four variants in NR3C1 and SATB1 were significantly associated with lung cancer risk after false discovery rate (FDR) correction [For NR3C1, rs9324921: odds ratio (OR) = 1.23, P for FDR = 0.029; rs12521436: OR = 0.85, P for FDR = 0.040; rs4912913: OR = 1.17, P for FDR = 0.040; For SATB1, rs6808523: OR = 1.33, P for FDR = 0.040]. Combing analysis presented a significant allele-dosage tendency for the number of risk alleles and lung cancer risk (Ptrend < 0.001). Moreover, expression quantitative trait loci (eQTL) analysis revealed that these two genes were differently expressed between lung tumor and adjacent normal tissues in the database of The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) (P = 0.009 for rs6808523). These findings suggested that genetic variants in key chromatin remodeling genes may contribute to lung cancer risk in Chinese population. Further large and well-designed studies are warranted to validate our results.