A Functional Variant on 9p21.3 Related to Glioma Risk Affects Enhancer Activity and Modulates Expression of CDKN2B‐AS1

Abstract Background Gliomas manifest in a variety of histological phenotypes with varying aggressiveness. The etiology of glioma remains largely unknown. Taller stature in adulthood has been linked with glioma risk. The aim of this study was to discern whether this association can be detected in adolescence. Methods The cohort included 2,223,168 adolescents between the ages of 16-19. Anthropometric measurements were collected at baseline. Incident cases of glioma were extracted from the Israel National Cancer Registry over a follow-up period spanning 47,635,745 person-years. Cox proportional hazard models were used to estimate the hazard ratio for glioma and glioma subtypes according to height, body mass index (BMI) and sex. Results 1,195 patients were diagnosed with glioma during the study period. Mean(SD) age at diagnosis was 38.1 (11.7) years. Taller adolescent height (per 10cm increase) was positively associated with the risk for glioma of any type (HR 1.15; p=0.002). The association was retained in subgroup analyses for low-grade glioma (HR 1.17; p=0.031), high-grade glioma (HR 1.15; p=0.025), oligodendroglioma (HR 1.31; p=0.015), astrocytoma (HR 1.12; p=0.049), and a category of presumed IDH-mutated glioma (HR 1.17; p=0.013). There was a trend towards a positive association between height and glioblastoma, however this had borderline statistical significance (HR: 1.15; p=0.07). After stratification of the cohort by sex, height remained a risk factor for men, but not for women. Conclusions The previously - established association between taller stature in adulthood and glioma risk can be traced back to adolescence. The magnitude of association differs by glioma subtype.

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Androgen and glucocorticoid receptor direct distinct transcriptional programs by receptor-specific and shared DNA binding sites

Nucleic Acids Research ◽

10.1093/nar/gkab185 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 49 (7) ◽

pp. 3856-3875

Author(s):

Marina Kulik ◽

Melissa Bothe ◽

Gözde Kibar ◽

Alisa Fuchs ◽

Stefanie Schöne ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Gene Regulation ◽

Transcription Factor ◽

Dna Binding ◽

Receptor Binding ◽

Binding Sites ◽

Specific Gene ◽

Functional Diversification ◽

Enhancer Activity ◽

Sequence Composition

Abstract The glucocorticoid (GR) and androgen (AR) receptors execute unique functions in vivo, yet have nearly identical DNA binding specificities. To identify mechanisms that facilitate functional diversification among these transcription factor paralogs, we studied them in an equivalent cellular context. Analysis of chromatin and sequence suggest that divergent binding, and corresponding gene regulation, are driven by different abilities of AR and GR to interact with relatively inaccessible chromatin. Divergent genomic binding patterns can also be the result of subtle differences in DNA binding preference between AR and GR. Furthermore, the sequence composition of large regions (>10 kb) surrounding selectively occupied binding sites differs significantly, indicating a role for the sequence environment in guiding AR and GR to distinct binding sites. The comparison of binding sites that are shared shows that the specificity paradox can also be resolved by differences in the events that occur downstream of receptor binding. Specifically, shared binding sites display receptor-specific enhancer activity, cofactor recruitment and changes in histone modifications. Genomic deletion of shared binding sites demonstrates their contribution to directing receptor-specific gene regulation. Together, these data suggest that differences in genomic occupancy as well as divergence in the events that occur downstream of receptor binding direct functional diversification among transcription factor paralogs.

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