Most genome-wide association study (GWAS)–identified breast cancer–associated causal variants remain uncharacterized. To provide a framework of understanding GWAS-identified variants to function, we performed a comprehensive study of noncoding regulatory variants at the
NTN4
locus (12q22) and
NTN4
gene in breast cancer etiology. We find that rs11836367 is the more likely causal variant, disrupting enhancer activity in both enhancer reporter assays and endogenous genome editing experiments. The protective T allele of rs11837367 increases the binding of GATA3 to the distal enhancer and up-regulates
NTN4
expression. In addition, we demonstrate that loss of
NTN4
gene in mice leads to tumor earlier onset, progression, and metastasis. We discover that
NTN4
, as a tumor suppressor, can attenuate the Wnt signaling pathway by directly binding to Wnt ligands. Our findings bridge the gaps among breast cancer–associated single-nucleotide polymorphisms, transcriptional regulation of
NTN4
, and breast cancer biology, which provides previously unidentified insights into breast cancer prediction and prevention.
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