rs486907

A SNP in the RNASEL gene on chromosome 1. Its most notable genotype is T;T: 2x increased prostate cancer risk

Gene: RNASEL
Location: Chr 1182,585,422 (GRCh38)
Highest magnitude: 2.0Worth knowing
Tested on: 23andMe, AncestryDNA, FamilyTreeDNA
Minor allele frequency: 24%

Genotypes

Plus strand, as in 23andMe and AncestryDNA files.

SNPedia records rs486907 on the minus strand: (A;A), (A;G), (G;G). Magnitude rates how notable a genotype is from 0 to 10, not how risky it is.

Frequency

Share of each genotype in 11 HapMap populations.

AverageT;T 6% C;T 30% C;C 65%
European ancestry (Utah)T;T 13% C;T 50% C;C 36%
Han Chinese (Beijing)T;T 5% C;T 36% C;C 59%
Japanese (Tokyo)T;T 6% C;T 25% C;C 69%
Yoruba (Nigeria)T;T 0% C;T 16% C;C 84%
African ancestry (Southwest US)T;T 0% C;T 23% C;C 77%
Chinese (Denver)T;T 4% C;T 32% C;C 65%
Gujarati IndianT;T 14% C;T 47% C;C 39%
Luhya (Kenya)T;T 0% C;T 5% C;C 95%
Mexican ancestry (Los Angeles)T;T 7% C;T 26% C;C 67%
Maasai (Kenya)T;T <1% C;T 21% C;C 78%
TuscanT;T 14% C;T 47% C;C 39%

Conditions, medicines and genes

Prostate cancerCondition

Other RNASEL SNPs

rs3738579G;G0.6x decreased risk for cervical cancer, but 1.4x increased risk for HNSCC and 1.8x increased risk for breast cancer (reported in 2008)Minor

All RNASEL SNPs

Notes

From SNPedia

Show notes, about 120 words

rs486907 is a SNP in the RNase L RNASEL gene that has been associated with cancer risk. The basic rationale behind most of these studies is that RNase L is responsible for deactivating RNA-based viruses that are associated with certain cancers, and therefore SNPs that lead to lower RNase L activity may lead to increased cancer risk. This SNP is also known as R462Q or Arg462Gln. In a study of prostate cancer patients, rs486907(A;G) heterozygotes were calculated to be at 1.5x increased risk, and rs486907(A;A) homozygotes 2x risk (p=0.007). This SNP was also associated with hereditary-prostate-cancer (HPC) predisposition with an odds ratio of 1.97 (p=0.07) in a study of 116 affected Finnish families. See also:

Source and license

Adapted from rs486907 on SNPedia, using a snapshot taken October 16, 2026. SNPedia content is shared under CC BY-NC-SA 3.0 US, and this page is shared under the same license.

SNPedia is a community-edited wiki. Its entries can be incomplete, out of date or wrong, and nothing here is a diagnosis or medical advice. Magnitude is a community rating of how interesting a genotype is, not a risk score.