Association of the miR-146aC>G, miR-149T>C, and miR-196a2T>C polymorphisms with gastric cancer risk and survival in the Greek population

MicroRNAs (miRNAs) play an important role in regulating gene expression at the post-transcriptional level and are involved in numerous physiological processes. Accumulating evidence suggests that single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in human miRNA genes may affect miRNA biogenesis pathway and influence the susceptibility to several diseases such as cancer. The aim of the study was to investigated whether three common miRNA polymorphisms [miR-146a C > G (rs2910164), miR-149 T > C (rs2292832), and miR-196a2 T > C (rs11614913)] are associated with the susceptibility and prognosis of gastric cancer (GC) in the Greek population. The three mRNA SNPs were identified in a case-control study (163 patients; 480 controls) by polymerase chain reaction-restriction fragment length polymorphism (PCR-RFLP) analysis. We found that the risk for GC was significantly higher for the carriers of miR-149 rs2292832CC (p = 0.009) and miR-196a2 rs11614913CC (p < 0.0001) genotypes, as well as for the carriers of the rs2910164/rs2292832/rs11614913 CCC and GTC haplotype (p < 0.0001 and p = 0.03, respectively). The rs2910164/rs2292832/rs11614913 CTT and CCT haplotypes seems to have a protective role against GC (p = 0.002 and p = 0.001, respectively). Our data demonstrate that specific miRNA SNPs are associated with GC susceptibility in the Greek population.