Furthermore, DTC risk was positively associated with the number of copies in the minor allele (A) of rs965513 among people who consumed less iodine than the median.
Among Europeans, we found that the two SNPs previously reported at 9q22 were not independently associated to DTC and that rs965513 was the predominant signal; at 14q13, we showed that the haplotype rs944289[C]-rs116909374[C]-rs999460[T] was significantly associated with DTC risk and that the association with rs116909374 differed by smoking status (p-interaction = 0.03).
Five germline genetic variants (rs116909374, rs965513, rs944289, rs966423, and rs2439302) have been associated in genome-wide association studies (GWAS) with increased risk of differentiated thyroid cancer (DTC), but their role in mortality of patients has not been established.
Our results confirm that the FOXE1 rs965513 SNP confers an increased risk for DTC in the German population, particularly allele "A" and the genotypes "AA" and "AG" for PTC.