Single Nucleotide Polymorphisms in miR-149 (rs2292832) and miR-101-1 (rs7536540) Are Not Associated with Hepatocellular Carcinoma in Thai Patients with Hepatitis B Virus Infection

MicroRNAs directly and indirectly influence many biological processes such as apoptosis, cell maintenance,and immune responses, impacting on tumor genesis and metastasis. They modulate gene expression at the posttranscriptionallevel and are associated with progression of liver disease. Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is acancer which mostly occurs in males. There are many factors affect HCC development, for example, hepatitisB virus (HBV), hepatitis C virus (HCV) and human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), co-infection, environmentalfactors including alcohol, aflatoxin consumption and host-related factors such as age, gender immune response,microRNA and single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs). Chronic infection with the hepatitis B virus is the majorfactor leading to HCC progression since it causes the liver injury. At present, there are many reports regardingthe association of SNPs on miRNAs and the HCC progression. In this research, we investigated the role of miR-149 (rs2292832) and miR-101-1 (rs7536540) with HCC progression in Thai population. The study included 289Thai subjects including 104 HCC patients, 90 patients with chronic hepatitis B virus infection (CHB) and 95healthy control subjects. The allele and genotype of rs2292832 and rs7536540 polymorphisms were determinedby TaqMan real-time PCR assay. Our results revealed no significant association between miR-149 (rs2292832)and miR-101-1 (rs7536540) and the risk of HCC in our Thai population. However, this research is the firststudy of miR-149 (rs2292832) and miR-101-1 (rs7536540) in HCC in Thai populations and the results need tobe confirmed with a larger population.