Abstract

BACKGROUND:MiR-106b-25 cluster, hosted in intron 13 of MCM7,may play integral roles in diverse processes including immune response,tumorigenesis and progression. A single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP),rs999885, is located in the promoter region of MCM7. Our previous study showedthat the A to G base change of rs999885 may provide an increased risk for HCCin HBV persistent carriers by altering the expression of the miR-106b-25cluster. However, it is unknown whether rs999885 is associated with prognosisof intermediate or advanced HBV-related hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC)patients.

METHODS:The SNP, rs999885, was genotyped by using theTaqMan allelic discrimination Assay in 414 intermediate or advanced HCCpatients. Log-rank test and Cox proportional hazard models were used forsurvival analysis.

RESULTS:The variant genotypes of rs999885 were associatedwith a significantly decreased risk of death for intermediate or advanced HCC[additive model: adjusted hazard ratio (HR)  = 0.76,95% confidence intervals (CI)  = 0.59-0.97]. Further stepwise regression analysis suggested thatrs999885 was an independently protective factor for the prognosis of HCC in thefinal model (additive model: adjusted HR  = 0.72, 95% CI  = 0.56-0.91, P = 0.007).

CONCLUSIONS:These findings indicate that the A to G base changeof rs999885 may provide a protective effect on the prognosis of intermediate oradvanced HCC in Chinese.