Genome-wide association analysis implicates dysregulation of immunity genes in chronic lymphocytic leukaemia

Several chronic lymphocytic leukaemia (CLL) susceptibility loci have been reported; however, much of the heritable risk remains unidentified. Here we perform a meta-analysis of six genome-wide association studies, imputed using a merged reference panel of 1,000 Genomes and UK10K data, totalling 6,200 cases and 17,598 controls after replication. We identify nine risk loci at 1p36.11 (rs34676223, P = 5.04 X 10 (-) (13)), 1q42.13 (rs41271473, P = 1.06 X 10 (-) (10)), 4q24 (rs71597109, P = 1.37 X 10 (-) (10)), 4q35.1 (rs57214277, P = 3.69 X 10 (-) (8)), 6p21.31 (rs3800461, P = 1.97 X 10 (-) (8)), 11q23.2 (rs61904987, P = 2.64 X 10 (-) (11)), 18q21.1 (rs1036935, P = 3.27 X 10 (-) (8)), 19p13.3 (rs7254272, P = 4.67 X 10 (-) (8)) and 22q13.33 (rs140522, P = 2.70 X 10 (-) (9)). These new and established risk loci map to areas of active chromatin and show an over-representation of transcription factor binding for the key determinants of B-cell development and immune response.