Genome-wide genotyping was performed in two European based multi-centre UADT cancer case-control studies (Table 4), the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) central europe study [14], [37], [34] conducted from 2000 to 2002, in 6 centers from 5 countries; and the ARCAGE [14], [34], [38] (Alcohol-Related Cancers and Genetic susceptibility in Europe) multicentre case control study conducted by IARC from 2002 to 2005 in 12 centers from 9 European countries. DNA of sufficient quality and quantity for genome-wide genotyping was available for 2,230 UADT cancer cases (squamous cell carcinomas) and 4,090 controls from these two studies. We additionally included 4,983 generic controls to further increase statistical power. These generic controls included: 1,385 individuals from the 1958 birth cohort, (Wellcome Trust case control consortium[39]) as well as 1,823 French and 433 Norwegian controls genotyped by the Centre National Genotypage (CNG Evry France). We also included in our control series a separate group of 1,342 kidney cancer cases from the same centres as the central Europe study, inclusion or exclusion of these “controls” had no material effect on the results presented (Table S2). Both studies have been approved by local ethics committees as well as IARC IRB.
