Skip to main content
. 2015 Feb 24;107(5):djv035. doi: 10.1093/jnci/djv035

Figure 3.

Figure 3.

Rs73371737 affects expression of GABRB3 gene, risk for chronic mucous hypersecretion (CMH), and non–small cell lung cancer (NSCLC), and pack-years in NSCLC cases. A) The variant A allele of rs73371737 is associated with reduced gene expression of GABRB3 in primary human bronchial epithelial cells (HBECs) (n = 48, P = .0025) and normal lungs (n = 40, P = .024). * indicates a statistically significant difference in GABRB3 gene expression between CA/AA and CC. Least square mean and standard error of delta Ct (GABRB3 – β-actin) is calculated using generalized linear models with adjustment for current smoking status because primary HBECs and normal lungs from current smokers have a 50% or greater reduction of GABRB3 expression than tissues from former smokers (P < .05). Higher delta Ct indicates lower relative gene expression. B) The variant A allele of rs73371737 is associated with increased risk (odds ratio [OR] = 1.82, P = 5.3×10–4) for CMH in white former smokers in Lovelace Smokers Cohort (n = 772) and PLuSS (n = 311). The size of the square indicates the relative weight in meta-analysis. Compared with wild-type homozygote (CC) of rs73371737, variant homozygote (AA) of rs73371737 is associated with increased risk (OR = 2.1, P = .0043) for NSCLC in 3737 case patients and 3974 control patients from four case-control studies (C2), while the association for heterozygote (CA) of rs73371737 with risk for NSCLC is not statistically significant (C1). Rs73371737 is imputed in National Cancer Institute (dosage R2 = 0.70) and MD Anderson Cancer Center (dosage R2 = 0.79) studies. D) Geometric means for pack-years in NSCLC cases from New Mexico and Pittsburgh by rs73371737 genotypes are shown. Subjects with AA genotype have statistically significantly lower pack-years than subjects with CC (P = .023) or CA (P = .043) genotypes. The asterisk indicates statistically significant differences in pack-years between AA and CC and between AA and CA. Statistical tests were two-sided. CI = confidence interval; CMH = chronic mucous hypersecretion; HBEC = human bronchial epithelial cell; LSC = the Lovelace Smokers Cohort; MDACC = MD Anderson Cancer Center; NCI = the National Cancer Institute; NM = New Mexico; NSCLC = non–small cell lung cancer; OR = odds ratio; PLuSS = the Pittsburgh Lung Screening Study cohort.