Genetic variation in CXCR4 and risk of chronic lymphocytic leukemia

Abstract

A genome-wide linkage scan has provided evidence for a chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) susceptibility locus at 2q21 to which the chemokine receptor CXCR4 gene maps. Recent data provide some evidence for common variation in CXCR4 according to the polymorphic variant rs2228014 defining CLL risk. To examine the role of genetic variation inCXCR4 onCLLrisk,wes creened 188 familial CLL cases and 213 controls for germline mutations in the coding regions of CXCR4 and genotyped rs2228014 in 1058 CLLcases and 1807 controls. No association between rs2228014 and risk of CLL was seen (P = .83). One truncating (W195X) and 2 missense mutations with possible functional consequences (V139I and G335S) were identified among 186 familial cases and 0 in 213 controls sequenced. Our analysis providesnoevidence thatcommonvariation in CXCR4 defined by rs228014 influences the risk of CLL, but that functional coding mutations in CXCR4 may contribute to familial CLL. © 2009 by The American Society of Hematology.