A Genetic Variant in the Promoter Region of miR-106b-25 Cluster Predict Clinical Outcome of HBV-Related Hepatocellular Carcinoma in Chinese

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 showed that the A to G base change of rs999885 may provide an increased risk for HCC in HBV persistent carriers by altering the expression of the miR-106b-25 cluster. However, it is unknown whether rs999885 is associated with prognosis of intermediate or advanced HBV-related hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) patients. Methods: The SNP, rs999885, was genotyped by using the TaqMan allelic discrimination Assay in 414 intermediate or advanced HCC patients. Log-rank test and Cox proportional hazard models were used for survival analysis. Results: The variant genotypes of rs999885 were associated with 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 that rs999885 was an independently protective factor for the prognosis of HCC in the final 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 change of rs999885 may provide a protective effect on the prognosis of intermediate or advanced HCC in Chinese.