Case-parent analysis of variation in pubertal hormone genes and pediatric osteosarcoma: A children's oncology group (COG) study

Osteosarcoma (OS) is a rare malignant bone tumor with an overall incidence rate of 4.6 cases per million children aged 0-19 years in the United States. While the etiology of OS is largely unknown, its distinctive ageincidence pattern suggests that growth and development is crucial in genesis. Prior studies have suggested that variants in genes in the estrogen metabolism (ESTR) and insulin-like growth factor/growth hormone (IGF/GH) pathways are associated with OS. We examined 798 single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in 42 genes from these pathways in a case-parent study (229 complete triads and 56 dyads) using buccal cell samples. Relative risks (RR) and 95% confidence intervals (CI) associated with transmitting one or two copies of the variant were estimated using log-linear models. After Bonferroni correction, 1 SNP within the ESTR pathway (rs1415270: RR = 0.50 and 8.37 for 1 and 2 vs. 0 copies, respectively; p = 0.010), and two SNPs in the IGF/GH pathway (rs1003737: RR = 0.91 and 0.0001 for 1 and 2 vs. 0 copies, respectively; p <0.0001 and rs2575352: RR = 2.62 and 0.22 for 1 and 2 vs. 0 copies; p < 0.0001) were significantly associated with OS incidence. These results confirm previous findings that variation in the estrogen metabolism and bone growth pathways influence OS risk and further support a biologically and epidemiologically plausible role in OS development.