Genome Wide Association Study to Identify SNPs and CNPs Associated with Development of Radiation Injury in Prostate Cancer Patients Treated With Radiotherapy

The hypothesis that forms the basis for this research is that patients who possess certain SNPs or CNPs are at a greater risk for developing severe urinary morbidity, proctitis or ED resulting from radiotherapy for prostate cancer. The specific aim of this project is to identify through a genome wide association study the SNPs and CNPs associated with the development of severe urinary morbidity and ED resulting from the use of radiation to treat prostate cancer. It should be noted that we may also identify SNPs or CNPs that are associated with protection against the development of these forms of radiation injury. The main accomplishment of the second year was the completion of the discovery phase of the project. Specifically, case and control samples for each of the outcomes were run on Affymetrix SNP6.0 arrays, checked with quality control steps, and analyzed for association of genetic variants. We identified approximately 700 SNPs associated with one or more of the outcomes that we will investigate in the validation cohort.
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