Neuroblastoma in relation to joint effects of vitamin A and maternal and offspring variants in vitamin A-related genes: A report of the Children’s Oncology Group

Mazul AL, Weinberg CR, Engel SM, Siega-Riz AM, Zou F, Carrier KS, Basta PV, Vaksman Z, Maris JM, Diskin SJ, Maxen C, Naranjo A, Olshan AF. Neuroblastoma in relation to joint effects of vitamin A and maternal and offspring variants in vitamin A-related genes: A report of the Children’s Oncology Group. Cancer Epidemiol. 2019 Aug;61:165-171. doi: 10.1016/j.canep.2019.06.009. Epub 2019 Jul 4. PMID: 31279991; PMCID: PMC6730673.

There is evidence vitamin A plays a role in neuroblastoma. Not only is 13-cis-retinoic acid used as maintenance therapy for high-risk cases, but prenatal vitamin intake use may decrease neuroblastoma risk. We hypothesized that single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in vitamin A-related genes are may be associated with neuroblastoma risk and potentially be modified by vitamin A intake. The Neuroblastoma Epidemiology in North America (NENA) study recruited 563 case-parent sets through the Children’s Oncology Group’s Childhood Cancer Research Network. We ascertained dietary nutrient intake through questionnaires and genotyped 463 SNPs in vitamin A-related genes from saliva DNA. Offspring and maternal log-additive risk ratios (RR) and stratum-specific RR for gene-environment interaction were estimated with a log-linear model. We avoided false positives due to multiple testing by using the false discovery rate (FDR).