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Updated: Feb 5, 2026

Isolation of Fidelity Variants of RNA Viruses and Characterization of Virus Mutation Frequency
Published on: June 16, 2011
Exome-wide analysis identifies three low-frequency missense variants associated with pancreatic cancer risk in
Jiang Chang1, Jianbo Tian1, Ying Zhu1
1Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, Key Laboratory for Environment and Health, School of Public Health, Tongji Medical College, Huazhong University of Sciences and Technology, 430030, Wuhan, China.
Abstract:
Germline coding variants have not been systematically investigated for pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC). Here we report an exome-wide investigation using the Illumina Human Exome Beadchip with 943 PDAC cases and 3908 controls in the Chinese population, followed by two independent replicate samples including 2142 cases and 4697 controls. We identify three low-frequency missense variants associated with the PDAC risk: rs34309238 in PKN1 (OR = 1.77, 95% CI: 1.48-2.12, P = 5.35 × 10-10), rs2242241 in DOK2 (OR = 1.85, 95% CI: 1.50-2.27, P = 4.34 × 10-9), and rs183117027 in APOB (OR = 2.34, 95% CI: 1.72-3.16, P = 4.21 × 10-8). Functional analyses show that the PKN1 rs34309238 variant significantly increases the level of phosphorylated PKN1 and thus enhances PDAC cells' proliferation by phosphorylating and activating the FAK/PI3K/AKT pathway. These findings highlight the significance of coding variants in the development of PDAC and provide more insights into the prevention of this disease.
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