Association Of Met Gene Polymorphisms With The Risk Of Hepatocellular Carcinoma

Objective: To explore the relationship between single nucleotide polymorphisms(SNPs) of Met and susceptibility to Hepatocellular Carcinoma(HCC) in Guangxi population, which will be helpful to elucidate molecular mechanisms underlying the development of HCC, and to provide the scientific basis for prevention and treatment of HCC.Methods: A hospital-based case-control study was conducted in 1,017 HCC patients and 1,060 cancer-free controls from January 1, 2007 to April 30, 2011 in First Affiliated Hospital of Guangxi Medical University, Affiliated Tumor Hospital of Guangxi Medical University and Affiliated Hospital of Guilin Medical University. The four potentially functional SNPs(rs41739 A>G, rs6566 G>A, rs38840 C>T, rs1621 A>G) in Met were screening out by bioinformatics methods and were detected by using the Sequenom MassARRAY platform. Multivariate logistic regression analysis was applied to estimate odds ratios(ORs) and 95% confidence intervals(CIs) for the associations between the above four candidate SNPs and HCC risk and their interaction with environmental factors.Results: The results showed that no significant statistically differences in the distributions of age and sex were found between cases and controls. However, smokers, drinkers, and individuals with HBV infection in the cases were significantly higher than those in the controls(P<0.05). After adjusted for covariates including age, sex, smoking, drinking status and HBV infection, the homozygous mutant genotype GG of rs1621 in Met was significantly associated with a decreased risk of HCC when compared with the wild-type genotype AA(adjusted OR=0.24, 95%CI=0.06~0.98, P=0.048);while the genotype GA was not associated with the risk of HCC(adjusted OR=1.36, 95%CI=0.97~1.89;P=0.072). No statistically significant associations between other three SNPs(rs41739 A>G,rs6566 G>A,rs38840 C>T) and the risk of HCC were found. Further analysis showed that, there were no significant gene-environment interactions on the risk of HCC between the rs1621 polymorphism and age, sex, smoking, drinking and HBV infection(P> 0.05).Conclusions: Met rs1621(A>G) polymorphism may contribute to HCC susceptibility, and the homozygous mutant genotype GG may decrease the risk of HCC in Guangxi population.