ABSTRACT
OBJECTIVE: To explore the correlation between single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) of telomerase reverse transcriptase (TERT) rs2736098 and rs2736100 and the susceptibility to hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). METHODS: This case-control study design included 1300 diagnosed HCC patients with HBsAg positive and 1344 HBsAg positive people as control-group.rs2736098 and rs2736100 on TERT were selected as research sites, whose polymorphisms were detected by TaqMan allelic discrimination assay. The OR values (95%CI) were calculated by logistic regression to compare the correlation between different genotype and susceptibility to HCC. RESULTS: The distribution frequencies of three genotypes as GG, AG and AA on rs2736098 were separately 39.3% (500/1273), 44.2% (563/1273) and 16.5% (210/1273) in case group; while respectively 39.6% (526/1328), 45.5% (604/1328) and 14.9% (198/1328) in control group. The distribution frequencies of three genotypes as AA, AC and CC on rs2736100 were separately 33.7% (428/1269), 49.9% (633/1269) and 16.4% (208/1269) in case group; while respectively 34.0% (449/1322), 49.2% (651/1322) and 16.8% (222/1322) in control group. The multi-variates logistic regression analysis showed that there was no significant difference between rs2736098 mutated A carriers and genotype GG carriers in the susceptibility to HCC after adjusting by age, sex, smoking and drinking factors (rs2736098, AA + AG vs GG: adjusted OR = 1.00 (95%CI: 0.86 - 1.18)); and there was no significant different between rs2736100 mutated C carriers and genotype AA carriers in the susceptibility to HCC either (AC + CC vs AA: adjusted OR = 1.03 (95%CI: 0.87 - 1.22)). CONCLUSION: The polymorphisms of rs2736098 and rs2736100 on TERT may not play a landmark role in susceptibility to HCC among Chinese population.
