ABSTRACT
OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the interaction between environmental factors, HBV/HCV infections and DNA repair gene XPC exon 8 Ala499Val, exon 15 Lys939Gln on related risks to primary hepatocellular carcinoma (PHC). METHODS: A 1:1 matched case-control study was conducted in Shunde city, Guangdong province. The genotypes of Ala499Val and Lys939Gln were detected by polymerase chain reaction restrictive fragment length polymorphism (PCR-RFLP) analysis, and gene-environment interactions were analyzed by conditional logistic regression. RESULTS: Among people infected by HBV with non- or at least one mutant gene of Ala499Val carriers, the risk of PHC significantly increased, with ORs as 3.768 (95%CI: 1.137 - 12.485) and 3.667(95%CI: 1.122 - 11.981) respectively. With non- or at least one mutant gene of Lys939Gln, the risk was increasing with ORs as 6.778 (95%CI: 2.025 - 22.688) and 3.152 (95%CI: 1.062 - 9.351) respectively. In those with HCV infection, non- or at least one mutant gene of Ala499Val might increase the risk with ORs as 2.955 (95%CI: 0.587 - 14.869), 1.085(95%CI: 0.307 - 3.839) respectively. However, when compared to the ones with no mutant gene of Lys939Gln among the same research subjects, those carrying at least one gene may decrease the risk, with OR lowered from 4.197 (95%CI: 0.870 - 20.243) to 0.887 (95%CI: 0.228 - 3.448). But the interactions between HBV infection, HCV infection and XPC genes were not statistically significant. CONCLUSION: Among people infected by HCV, the mutant gene of Ala499Val had the tendency to lower the risk of PHC, and the mutant gene of Lys939Gln also appeared the same in the population with either HBV infection or HCV infection in Shunde, Guangdong. Another study with large samples should be performed to analyze the interactions among environments-genes.
