Association of microRNA Polymorphisms with the Risk of Gastric Cancer in a Romanian Population.

Background And Aims: MicroRNAs (miRNAs) play an important role in the occurrence and progression of human cancers, including gastric cancer. Our hospital-based case-control study aimed to investigate whether four commonly studied single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) have effects on susceptibility to gastric cancer in a Romanian population.

Method: We genotyped the miR-27a rs895819, miR-146a rs2910164, miR-196a2 rs11614913 and miR-499 rs3746444 SNPs by real-time PCR using predesignated TaqMan assays in 430 individuals (142 gastric cancer patients and 288 age and gender matched cancer-free controls). The associations between the investigated miRNA SNPs and gastric cancer risk were assessed by odds ratio (OR) with 95% confidence interval (CI) using logistic regression analysis.

Results: A higher frequency of the miR-27a rs895819 CC genotype (OR 1.98, 95% CI: 1.05-3.73, p=0.036) was found in the patients with gastric cancer compared with the controls. Similar results were observed in a recessive model, the CC genotype was correlated with gastric cancer susceptibility (OR 1.95, 95% CI: 1.07-3.55, p=0.032). In the stratified analysis, the association between miR-27a rs895819 SNP and gastric cancer risk was limited to noncardia (OR 2.08, 95% CI: 1.10-3.94, p=0.027) and intestinal (OR 2.27, 95% CI: 1.05-4.92, p=0.042) subgroups. However, after Bonferroni correction, all associations described above lost statistical significance. No correlation was observed for the remaining SNPs and risk of gastric cancer in any genetic model studied.

Conclusion: This study showed no association of the investigated miRNA SNPs with the risk of gastric cancer in a Romanian population.