Family-based exome-wide association study of childhood acute lymphoblastic leukemia among Hispanics confirms role of ARID5B in susceptibility

We conducted an exome-wide association study of childhood acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) among Hispanics to confirm and identify novel variants associated with disease risk in this population. We used a case-parent trio study design; unlike more commonly used case-control studies, this study design is ideal for avoiding issues with population stratification bias among this at-risk ethnic group. Using 710 individuals from 323 Guatemalan and US Hispanic families, two inherited SNPs in ARID5B reached genome-wide level significance: rs10821936, RR = 2.31, 95% CI = 1.70–3.14, p = 1.7×10−8 and rs7089424, RR = 2.22, 95% CI = 1.64–3.01, p = 5.2×10−8. Similar results were observed when restricting our analyses to those with the B-ALL subtype: ARID5B rs10821936 RR = 2.22, 95% CI = 1.63–3.02, p = 9.63×10−8 and ARID5B rs7089424 RR = 2.13, 95% CI = 1.57–2.88, p = 2.81×10−7. Notably, effect sizes observed for rs7089424 and rs10821936 in our study were >20% higher than those reported among non-Hispanic white populations in previous genetic association studies. Our results confirmed the role of ARID5B in childhood ALL susceptibility among Hispanics; however, our assessment did not reveal any strong novel inherited genetic risks for acute lymphoblastic leukemia among this ethnic group.