Rs4938723 Polymorphism Is Associated with Susceptibility to Hepatocellular Carcinoma Risk and Is a Protective Factor in Leukemia, Colorectal, and Esophageal Cancer

Prognostic impact of miR-34b/c DNA methylation, gene expression, and promoter polymorphism in HPV-negative oral squamous cell carcinomas

Micro RNAs (miRNAs) have a key role in gene expression regulation in cancer. The aim of the current study is to evaluate the prognostic value of miR-34b/c promoter hypermethylation, gene expression, and polymorphism in HPV-negative oral squamous cell carcinomas (OSCC). MiR-34b/c promoter hypermethylation and pre-miR-34b/c polymorphism rs4938723 were evaluated in tumor tissues of 148 patients, and miR-34b expression in 123 HPV-negative OSCC. For risk assessment, the control group was comprised of 175 healthy individuals. MiR-34b/c promoter hypermethylation was determined by methylation-specific PCR. Gene expression, genotyping and HPV screening was assessed by Q-PCR. The data from our hospital cohort indicated that miR-34b/c DNA methylation was associated with nodal status (p = 0.048), and predicted the shorter overall survival of HPV-negative OSCC patients (p = 0.008). Down-regulated miR-34b/c expression was associated with smoking (p = 0.047), alcohol use (p = 0.009), stage (p = 0.025), recurrences (p = 0.000), and a poor survival (p = 0.00029). Median values of miR-34b expression were significantly lower in advanced stages III/IV as opposed to stage I/II, p = 0.006, and in nodal positive vs negative patients (p = 0.045). TCGA data also indicated that tumors with stage I-III expressed significantly higher levels of miR-34b, compared to tumors with stage IV (p = 0.035), Low miR-34b/c expression was associated with poor survival in smokers (p = 0.001) and patients with tongue carcinomas (p = 0.00003), and TCGA analysis confirmed these findings although miR-34b expression and miR-34b/c methylation were not associated with survival outcome in the whole TCGA cohort. A significant negative miR-34b/c expression-methylation correlation was observed in our hospital cohort (p = 0.017) and in TCGA cohort. Pre-miR-34b/c polymorphism was not associated with oral cancer risk. Our findings indicate that miR-34b/c hypermethylation and low miR-34b expression could promote the progression and predict the poor prognosis for HPV-negative OSCC, which suggests miR-34b/c as a promising biomarker and therapeutic target for OSCC in the future.

Association of miR-4293 rs12220909 polymorphism with cancer risk: A meta-analysis of 8394 subjects

BACKGROUND

Several studies have investigated miR-4293 rs12220909 polymorphisms and cancer susceptibility and yielded different results. Because of this controversy, we designed a meta-analysis to assess comprehensively the association of the rs12220909 polymorphism with cancer risk.

METHODS

Relevant articles were collected by searching the databases of PubMed, Embase, Web of Science, China National Knowledge Infrastructure (CNKI), and WanFang. Data on rs12220909 in cancer patients and controls were extracted. Sensitivity analyses and publication bias assessments were performed.

RESULTS

Five studies with 3820 cases and 4574 controls were included in our meta-analysis. Pooled analyses showed that the rs12220909 polymorphism was not associated with cancer risk in any genetic model. (C vs G: odds ratio [OR] = 0.89, 95% confidence interval [CI] = 0.74-1.07; GC vs GG: OR = 0.83, 95% CI = 0.67-1.03; CC vs GG: OR = 1.06, 95% CI = 0.82-1.36; CC+GC vs GG: OR = 0.84, 95% CI = 0.69-1.03; CC vs GC+GG: OR = 1.10, 95% CI = 0.85-1.40).

CONCLUSIONS

Our results indicate that rs12220909 is not associated with cancer risk. Larger, well-designed multicenter studies are needed to further explore the association of miR-4293 rs12220909 polymorphism with cancer risk.

Association of miR-34b/c rs4938723 and TP53 Arg72Pro Polymorphisms with Neuroblastoma Susceptibility: Evidence from Seven Centers

Neuroblastoma is a pediatric malignancy arising from the developing peripheral nervous system. p53 and downstream effector miR-34b/c have critical tumor suppressing functions. TP53 Arg72Pro (rs1042522 C > G) and miR-34b/c rs4938723 (T > C) polymorphisms have been known to modify cancer susceptibility. This study was performed to validate the association of these two polymorphisms and neuroblastoma risk with 819 cases and 1780 controls. Odds ratios (ORs) and corresponding 95% confidence intervals (CIs) were used to assess the strength of the associations. False positive report possibility analysis was adopted to dissect out real significant associations from chance findings. We found that both TP53 Arg72Pro (CG/GG vs. CC: adjusted OR = 0.82, 95% CI = 0.69-0.98) and miR-34b/c rs4938723 (TC/CC vs. TT: adjusted OR = 0.64, 95% CI = 0.54-0.75) were associated with decreased neuroblastoma susceptibility. Stratify analyses further confirmed the protective effect among some subgroups. Moreover, subjects with variant alleles of both polymorphisms were associated with more significantly decreased neuroblastoma risk (CG/TC vs. CC/TT: adjusted OR = 0.38, 95% CI = 0.28-0.50; GG/TC vs. CC/TT: adjusted OR = 0.43, 95% CI = 0.30-0.63) than those carrying variant allele of either one polymorphism (CC/TC vs. CC/TT: adjusted OR = 0.51, 95% CI = 0.37-0.69; CG/TT vs. CC/TT: adjusted OR = 0.71, 95% CI = 0.55-0.92), suggesting cumulative effects of the polymorphisms. False positive report possibility analysis further verified that our findings are noteworthy. Overall, we confirmed that miR-34b/c rs4938723 and TP53 Arg72Pro conferred decreased neuroblastoma risk and two polymorphisms exerted stronger protective effects against neuroblastoma than either one alone.

Functional polymorphisms of the lncRNA H19 promoter region contribute to the cancer risk and clinical outcomes in advanced colorectal cancer

Background

The long non-coding RNA H19 plays critical roles in cancer occurrence, development, and progression. The present study is for the first time to evaluate the association of genetic variations in the H19 promoter region with advanced colorectal cancer (CRC) susceptibility, environmental factors, and clinical outcomes.

Methods

16 single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) were identified in the H19 gene promoter by DNA sequencing, and 3 SNPs among which including rs4930101, rs11042170, and rs2735970 further expanded samples with 572 advanced CRC patients and 555 healthy controls.

Results

We found that harboring SNP [rs4930101 (P = 0.009), rs2735970 (P = 0.003), and rs11042170 (P = 0.003)] or carrying more than one combined risk genotypes significantly increased the risk for CRC [P < 0.0001, adjusted OR (95% CI) 6.48 (2.97–14.15)]. In the correlation analysis with environmental factors, rs2735970 and gender, combined risk genotypes (> 1 vs. ≤ 1) and family history of cancer demonstrated significant interactions. Furthermore, a remarkably worse clinical outcome was found in combined risk genotypes (> 1 vs. ≤ 1), especially in CRC patients with body weight ≥ 61 kg, smoking, and first-degree family history of cancer (Log-rank test: P = 0.006, P = 0.018, and P = 0.013, respectively). More importantly, the multivariate Cox regression analyses further verified that combined risk genotypes > 1 showed a prognostic risk factor for CRC patients with body weight ≥ 61 kg (P = 0.002), smoking (P = 0.008), and family history of cancer (P = 0.006). In addition, MDR analysis consistently revealed that the combination of selected SNPs and nine known risk factors showed a better prediction prognosis and represented the best model to predict advanced CRC prognosis.

Conclusion

3 SNPs of rs4930101, rs11042170, and rs27359703 among 16 identified SNPs of H19 gene remarkably increased CRC risk. Furthermore, the combined risk genotypes had a significant impact on environmental factors and clinical outcomes in the advanced CRC patients with body weight ≥ 61 kg, ever-smoking, and first-degree family history of cancer. These data suggest that H19 promoter SNPs, especially these combined SNPs might be more potentially functional biomarkers in the prediction of advanced CRC risk and prognosis.

Electronic supplementary material

The online version of this article (10.1186/s12935-019-0895-x) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

Analysis of association of potentially functional genetic variants within genes encoding miR-34b/c, miR-378 and miR-143/145 with prostate cancer in Serbian population

MiRNA-associated genetic variants occurring in regulatory regions can affect the efficiency of transcription and potentially modify pri-miRNA or pre-miRNA processing. Since miRNA-based mechanisms are shown to be involved in the pathogenesis of prostate cancer (PCa), the aim of the present study was to evaluate the effect of rs4938723, rs1076064 and rs4705343 occurring in regulatory regions of miR-34b/c, miR-143/145 and miR-378, respectively, on PCa risk and progression in Serbian population. We examined a total of 1060 subjects, of which 350 were patients with PCa, 354 were patients with benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH), while 356 healthy volunteers were included in the control group. Genotyping of rs4938723, rs1076064 and rs4705343 was performed by using Taqman^® SNP Genotyping Assays. Allele C of rs4705342 was found to increase the risk of PCa (P=0.031 for codominant model, P=0.0088 for recessive model). Rs1076064 minor allele G was found to associate with serum PSA score, as well as with PCa T category and disease aggressiveness. For rs4938723 minor allele C was shown to be associated with the lower PCa T category (P_dom=0.0046; OR=0.36, 95 % CI 0.17-0.76) in T2 vs. T1 comparison. Rs4705342 was identified as PCa susceptibility variant in Serbian population, while for rs1076064 and rs4938723 association with PCa progression parameters was found.