Combined analysis of keratinocyte cancers identifies novel genome-wide loci

The keratinocyte cancers (KC), basal cell carcinoma (BCC) and squamous cell carcinoma (SCC) are the most common cancers in fair-skinned people. KC treatment represents the second highest cancer healthcare expenditure in Australia. Increasing our understanding of the genetic architecture of KC may provide new avenues for prevention and treatment. We first conducted a series of genome-wide association studies (GWAS) of KC across three European ancestry datasets from Australia, Europe and USA, and used linkage disequilibrium (LD) Score regression (LDSC) to estimate their pairwise genetic correlations. We employed a multiple-trait approach to map genes across the combined set of KC GWAS (total N = 47 742 cases, 634 413 controls). We also performed meta-analyses of BCC and SCC separately to identify trait specific loci. We found substantial genetic correlations (generally 0.5–1) between BCC and SCC suggesting overlapping genetic risk variants. The multiple trait combined KC GWAS identified 63 independent genome-wide significant loci, 29 of which were novel. Individual separate meta-analyses of BCC and SCC identified an additional 13 novel loci not found in the combined KC analysis. Three new loci were implicated using gene-based tests. New loci included common variants in BRCA2 (distinct to known rare high penetrance cancer risk variants), and in CTLA4, a target of immunotherapy in melanoma. We found shared and trait specific genetic contributions to BCC and SCC. Considering both, we identified a total of 79 independent risk loci, 45 of which are novel.