What question did this study set out to answer?

The study aims to identify genetic variants associated with bladder cancer susceptibility and their relationship to smoking risk.

April 5, 2026

Abstract 3601: Multi-population GWAS meta-analysis identifies novel bladder cancer susceptibility loci and highlights the genetic regulation of smoking-related risk

Key Points

The study aims to identify genetic variants associated with bladder cancer susceptibility and their relationship to smoking risk.
Conducted a meta-analysis using data from 32,470 bladder cancer cases and 1,753,462 controls.
Identified 70 independent loci associated with bladder cancer risk, including 43 novel signals.
Utilized polygenic risk scores and assessed their impact on predictive accuracy for bladder cancer risk.
Performed integrated analysis including germline, transcriptomic, and proteomic data.
Identified 70 significant loci linked to bladder cancer risk, with a polygenic risk score showing a hazard ratio of 1.61.
Found significant enrichment of BC variants in open chromatin regions of bladder tissue.
Detected a novel signal at smoking-related locus 15q25.1 associated with increased bladder cancer risk, particularly among smokers.
Significant heterogeneity in risks for different bladder cancer subtypes was noted, especially in muscle-invasive cases.

Abstract

Abstract Urinary bladder cancer (BC) is the ninth most common malignancy worldwide. We conducted a meta-analysis of genome-wide association studies for BC risk in 32,470 cases and 1,753,462 controls, identifying 70 independent genome-wide significant loci, including 43 novel signals. A 70-marker polygenic risk score was strongly associated with BC risk (hazard ratio=1.61 (1.50-1.73) per standard deviation), substantially improving the area under the curve (AUC) when added to a model with age, sex, and smoking status (AUC=0.75 vs. 0.70, p=4.49E-20). BC risk variants (n=4,196 at p5.0E-8) were enriched in regions of open chromatin in bladder tissue. Integrated germline, transcriptomic, and proteomic analyses nominated additional susceptibility genes and pathways, particularly related to xenobiotic metabolism. We detected a novel BC signal within a known smoking-related locus at 15q25.1 (rs7173514-C, OR=1.07, p=9.64E-10 for BC risk overall, ORNever-Smoker=1.00 and OREver-Smoker=1.14). This signal was primarily driven by an insertion/deletion variant within CHRNA3-3’UTR rs71581744/rs10637216 (A/ACCCC, r2=0.78 with rs7173514 in Europeans) linked with smoking cessation, with an additional contribution from a known lead variant for smoking intensity (rs16969968-G/A, D398N within CHRNA5). Further analyses revealed significant heterogeneity for rs71581744 by BC subtype (muscle-invasiveness), particularly among current smokers (ORMuscle Invasive=1.42 vs. ORNon-muscle Invasive=1.11, pheterogeneity=1.84E-02), consistent with epidemiologic observations that current smokers have a higher risk of muscle-invasive bladder cancer. Our in-vitro reporter assays for rs71581744-A/ACCCC demonstrated allele-specific effects on mRNA stability in several cell lines. Since neuronally expressed CHRNA5 and CHRNA3 encode subunits of the nicotinic acetylcholine receptors (nAChR) that regulate smoking behavior, we investigated their expression in normal brain tissues in GTEx. The BC risk signal colocalized with a top CHRNA3 eQTL in one brain area, with variable allelic expression imbalance for CHRNA3 in several brain areas from the same donors. Our results implicate rs71581744-A/ACCCC as a functional variant contributing to BC risk via regulation of CHRNA3 mRNA stability in specific brain areas, affecting nicotine reward/aversion circuits and possibly bladder function. Overall, our study provides new insights into BC genetics and etiology with relevant clinical implications. Citation Format: Ludmila Prokunina-Olsson, Oscar Florez-Vargas, Michael G. Levin, Diptavo Dutta, Charles Breeze, Lauren M. Hurwitz, Wusheng Yan, Philippe Lamy, Brenen Papenberg, Kevin Wang, Chia-Han Lee, Roger L. Milne, Jian Gu, Caroline Y. Um, Vijai Joseph, Helena Furberg, Florence Le Calvez-Kelm, Chikashi Terao, Koichi Matsuda, Francisco X. Real, Lambertus A. Kiemeney, Stephen J. Chanock, Núria Malats, Debra T. Silverman, Lars Dyrskjøt, Nathaniel Rothman, Scott M. Damrauer, Stella Koutros, Jeffrey S. Damrauer. Multi-population GWAS meta-analysis identifies novel bladder cancer susceptibility loci and highlights the genetic regulation of smoking-related risk abstract. In: Proceedings of the American Association for Cancer Research Annual Meeting 2026; Part 1 (Regular Abstracts); 2026 Apr 17-22; San Diego, CA. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2026;86(7 Suppl):Abstract nr 3601.

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