[A meta-analysis of microRNA-149, microRNA-499 gene polymorphism and susceptibility to hepatocellular carcinoma].

OBJECTIVE: To investigate the relationship between microRNA-149 (rs2292832), microRNA-499 (rs2292832) polymorphism and hepatocellular carcinoma susceptibility by meta-analysis. METHODS: We used"hepatocellular carcinoma/HCC","miRNA-149/miR-149/microRNA-149", and"miRNA-499/miR-499/microRNA-499"as key words to search papers in databases including China National Knowledge Internet (CNKI), Chinese BioMedical Literature (CBM), Vip Citation Databases (VIP), Wanfang, PubMed and Web of Science databases, and collected the case-control studies on the association of rs2292832 or rs3746444 and the susceptibility to hepatocellular carcinoma from updated to May 31st 2015. Data were extracted by two independent reviewers and pooled OR with 95% CI was calculated. A bioinformatics analysis was further conducted. RESULTS: A total of 13 research papers were collected, and 5 studies for rs2292832 and 12 studies for rs3746444. 1 096 cases and 1 701 controls were included for rs2292832 and 3 117 cases and 4 126 controls were included for rs3746444. Meta-analysis failed to detect associations between rs2292832, rs3746444 and susceptibility to hepatocellular carcinoma under each genetic model tested and alleles of OR(95% CI) were 0.99(0.78-1.28) and 1.11(0.88-1.40). However, subgroup analysis showed that rs3746444 C allele seem to be associated with an increased hepatocellular carcinoma risk in both researches which had more than 400 samples and which used more accurate genotyping methods, and OR(95%CI) were 1.32(1.02-1.70) and 1.34(1.09-1.66), respectively. Furthermore, bioinformatics analysis also showed that the expression of both SNPs were down-regulated in HepG2 cells and indicated possible functional effects on gene transcription. Cochran's Q test indicated that there was the heterogeneity among the studies included. CONCLUSIONS: No significant association was found between rs2292832, rs3746444 and susceptibility to hepatocellular carcinoma, but subgroup study indicated C allele might be associated with increased hepatocellular carcinoma risk for rs3746444. Bioinformatics analysis indicated that the two SNPs might have possible influence on gene transcription.