Susceptibility to Wilms tumor

Genetic variants at two genomic regions are reported as associated with susceptibility to Wilms tumor in a study this week in Nature Genetics. Wilms tumor is the most common renal malignancy of childhood and this work provides insight into the factors that may influence susceptibility to this disease.

Nazneen Rahman and colleagues report a genome wide association study in 757 individuals with Wilms tumor and 1,879 controls, with two sets of replication in 769 cases and 2,814 controls, and then 719 cases and 1,037 controls. They identify common genetic variants at chromosome 2p24 and 11q14 that are associated with susceptibility to Wilms tumor.