A network analysis to identify mediators of germline-driven differences in breast cancer prognosis. Academic Article uri icon

Overview

abstract

  • Identifying the underlying genetic drivers of the heritability of breast cancer prognosis remains elusive. We adapt a network-based approach to handle underpowered complex datasets to provide new insights into the potential function of germline variants in breast cancer prognosis. This network-based analysis studies ~7.3 million variants in 84,457 breast cancer patients in relation to breast cancer survival and confirms the results on 12,381 independent patients. Aggregating the prognostic effects of genetic variants across multiple genes, we identify four gene modules associated with survival in estrogen receptor (ER)-negative and one in ER-positive disease. The modules show biological enrichment for cancer-related processes such as G-alpha signaling, circadian clock, angiogenesis, and Rho-GTPases in apoptosis.

authors

publication date

  • January 16, 2020

Research

keywords

  • Breast Neoplasms
  • Genetic Variation
  • Genome-Wide Association Study
  • Germ Cells

Identity

PubMed Central ID

  • PMC6965101

Scopus Document Identifier

  • 85077940819

Digital Object Identifier (DOI)

  • 10.1371/journal.pone.0013984

PubMed ID

  • 31949161

Additional Document Info

volume

  • 11

issue

  • 1