ABO blood group and other genetic variants associated with pancreatic cancer

Pancreatic adenocarcinoma is the fourth leading cause of cancer death in the United States. Recent reports, including genome-wide association studies and self-reported blood serotype studies, have shown that individuals of European ancestry who carry non-O blood group are at an increased risk of developing pancreatic cancer. Two recent genome-wide association studies of pancreatic cancer have identified associations between pancreatic cancer risk and genetic variants in the ABO blood group gene, the locus containing the telomerase reverse transcriptase (hTERT) gene, the nuclear receptor family gene NR5A2 and a non-genic region on chromosome 13q22.1.