RESUMO
BACKGROUND: Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is one of the most prevalent types of cancer and is responsible for close to one million annual deaths globally. In Pakistan, HCC accounts for 10.7% of cancer incidence. Prior studies indicated an association between interleukin 4 (IL-4) and cytotoxic T lymphocyte protein 4 (CTLA-4) gene polymorphisms in many types of cancers, including HCC that are either hepatitis B virus (HBV)- or hepatitis C Virus (HCV)-induced. The association of IL-4 and CTLA-4 genetic polymorphisms with HCV-induced HCC is not yet determined in the Pakistani population. Therefore, this research is designed to investigate the implication of IL-4 and CTLA-4 gene polymorphisms by determining the association of IL-4 -590 C/T (rs2243250) and CTLA-4 + 49 A/G (rs231775) with HCC in Pakistan. METHODS: Different bioinformatics tools were employed to determine the pathogenicity of these polymorphisms. Samples were collected from HCV-induced HCC patients, followed by DNA extraction and ARMS-PCR analysis. RESULTS: The SNP analysis results indicated a positive association of IL-4 -590C/T and CTLA-4 + 49A/G gene polymorphisms with HCV-induced HCC in Pakistan. The CTLA-4 polymorphism might enhance therapeutic efficiency of HCC chemotherapy medicines. The IL-4 polymorphism might introduce new transcription factor binding site in IL-4 promoter region. CONCLUSION: This study delineated risk factor alleles in CTLA-4 and IL-4 genes associated with HCV-mediated HCC among Pakistani patients that may have application to serve as genetic markers for pre- and early diagnosis and prognosis of HCC in HCV patients.