About the Authors

Mahboobeh Safaeian

safaeianm@mail.nih.gov

Affiliation Division of Cancer Epidemiology and Genetics, National Cancer Institute, Bethesda, Maryland, United States of America

Allan Hildesheim

Affiliation Division of Cancer Epidemiology and Genetics, National Cancer Institute, Bethesda, Maryland, United States of America

Paula Gonzalez

Affiliation Proyecto Epidemiológico Guanacaste, Fundación INCIENSA, San José, Costa Rica

Kai Yu

Affiliation Division of Cancer Epidemiology and Genetics, National Cancer Institute, Bethesda, Maryland, United States of America

Carolina Porras

Affiliation Proyecto Epidemiológico Guanacaste, Fundación INCIENSA, San José, Costa Rica

Qizhai Li

Affiliation Academy of Mathematics and Systems Science, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China

Ana Cecilia Rodriguez

Affiliation Proyecto Epidemiológico Guanacaste, Fundación INCIENSA, San José, Costa Rica

Mark E. Sherman

Affiliation Division of Cancer Epidemiology and Genetics, National Cancer Institute, Bethesda, Maryland, United States of America

Mark Schiffman

Affiliation Division of Cancer Epidemiology and Genetics, National Cancer Institute, Bethesda, Maryland, United States of America

Sholom Wacholder

Affiliation Division of Cancer Epidemiology and Genetics, National Cancer Institute, Bethesda, Maryland, United States of America

Robert Burk

Affiliation Albert Einstein College of Medicine, Bronx, New York, United States of America

Rolando Herrero

Affiliation Proyecto Epidemiológico Guanacaste, Fundación INCIENSA, San José, Costa Rica

Laurie Burdette

Affiliation Core Genotyping Facility, Division of Cancer Epidemiology and Genetics, Advanced Technology Program, SAIC Frederick Inc, NCI-Frederick, Frederick, Maryland, United States of America

Stephen J. Chanock

Affiliation Core Genotyping Facility, Division of Cancer Epidemiology and Genetics, Advanced Technology Program, SAIC Frederick Inc, NCI-Frederick, Frederick, Maryland, United States of America

Sophia S. Wang

Affiliation Division of Etiology, Department of Population Sciences, City of Hope, Duarte, California, United States of America

Competing Interests

Laurie Burdette and Stephen J. Chanock are employed by The Core Genotyping Facility (CGF) which is within the Division of Cancer Epidemiology and Genetics (DCEG) of the National Cancer Institute (NCI) and supported by SAIC-Frederick Inc. Information Management Services, Inc. also supported this study, along with Amy Hutchinson and Belynda Hicks with their management of this genotyping effort at the NCI Core Genotyping Facility and for their scientific contributions to the authors' research efforts. This does not alter the authors' adherence to all PloS ONE policies on sharing data and materials.

Author Contributions

Conceived and designed the experiments: M. Safaeian AH S. Wang S. Wacholder RH PG CP M. Schiffman ACR. Performed the experiments: RB LB SC. Analyzed the data: KY QL M. Safaeian S. Wacholder. Contributed reagents/materials/analysis tools: PG CP KY ACR. Wrote the paper: M. Safaeian AH PG CP KY QL ACR M. Sherman M. Schiffman S. Wacholder RB RH LB SJC S. Wang.