Association between SNPs in microRNA machinery genes and gastric cancer susceptibility, invasion, and metastasis in Chinese Han population.

Objective: The present study investigates the influence of genetic variants in miRNA machinery genes (, and ) on gastric cancer in Chinese Han population, further revealing the genetic mechanisms of gastric cancer occurrence and development.

Methods: Genotyping of single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) was performed in 628 patients with GC and 502 frequency-matched (age and gender) controls by the high resolution melting (HRM) method.

Results: The SNPs rs3742330 () and rs7813 () were associated with susceptibility to gastric cancer ( = 0.002 and 0.010, respectively). Stratified analysis showed that the G allele of rs3742330 and genotype TT as well as T allele of rs7813 were associated with a later stage of gastric cancer (=0.027, 0.032 and 0.018, respectively). Furthermore, the genotype TT and T allele of rs7813 appeared to be associated with a higher level of lymphatic metastasis of gastric cancer (=0.021 and 0.030, respectively), while the genotype AA and A allele of rs636832 () were correlated with a lower level of lymphatic metastasis of gastric cancer (=0.016 and 0.041, respectively). There was no significant association between rs10719 () and gastric cancer.

Conclusion: The present data demonstrated that genetic variants in miRNA machinery genes had a significant association with GC susceptibility ( and ) and malignant behavior such as tumor stage ( and ) and lymphatic metastasis of GC ( and ) in Chinese Han population.