Genome-wide association study identifies three susceptibility loci for laryngeal squamous cell carcinoma in the Chinese population.

To identify genetic markers for laryngeal squamous cell carcinoma (LSCC), we conducted a genome-wide association study (GWAS) on 993 individuals with LSCC (cases) and 1,995 cancer-free controls from Chinese populations. The most promising variants (association P < 1 × 10(-5)) were then replicated in 3 independent sets including 2,398 cases and 2,804 controls, among which we identified 3 new susceptibility loci at 11q12 (rs174549), 6p21 (rs2857595) and 12q24 (rs10492336). The minor alleles of each of these loci showed protective effects, with odds ratios (95% confidence intervals) of 0.73 (0.68-0.78; P = 1.00 × 10(-20)), 0.78 (0.72-0.84; P = 2.43 × 10(-15)) and 0.71 (0.65-0.77; P = 4.48 × 10(-14)), respectively. None of these variants showed an interaction with smoking or drinking. This is the first GWAS to our knowledge solely on LSCC, and the findings might advance understanding of the etiology of LSCC.