<p>Variants of <em>MIR137HG</em> Genes are Associated with Liver Cancer Risk in Chinese Li Population</p>
Chaoying Wang, Xiaohong Zhuang, Junnv Xu, Zhisheng Dai, Weixiong Wu, Chengsheng Zhang, Lin Shu, Sehong Chen, Haifeng Lin, Wenjun Tang
Abstract
Background: Liver cancer (LC) is the sixth most common cancer and the second leading cause of cancer mortality worldwide, and its incidence rate is high in China. Methods: In this study, we aimed to investigate the contribution of MIR137HG (MIR137 Host Gene) polymorphisms to LC risk in a case–control study with 432 LC patients and 430 healthy controls. A logistic recession model was used to evaluate the effects of candidate single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) on LC risk. HaploReg v 4.1 database was conducted to predict the potential functionality of SNPs. Results: The results revealed that rs17371457 and rs7554283 in the MIR137HG gene were correlated with an enhanced LC risk under the allele ( P = 0.001 and P = 0.043, respectively) and genetic models ( P < 0.05). When the sample was stratified by gender and age, statistically significant associations were found. Rs9440302, rs17371457 and rs7554283 were associated with an increased the risk of LC among individuals aged > 55 years ( P < 0.05); rs17371457 was related to higher LC risk in males ( P < 0.05). Similarly, the haplotype AG constituted by rs12333983 and rs3735451 significantly increased LC risk in Chinese Li population ( P = 0.043). Six SNPs distributed in MIR137HG were successfully predicted as regulatory SNPs with different biological functions. Conclusion: Our research firstly showed that MIR137HG gene polymorphisms were implicated in LC susceptibility among Chinese Li population. Keywords: liver cancer, genetics polymorphisms, MIR137HG , susceptibility