Putative association of Fas and FasL gene polymorphisms with clinical outcomes of hepatitis B virus infection.
OBJECTIVE
Fas/FasL polymorphisms, which are related to apoptosis, might influence the clearance of hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection and the occurrence of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). This study was performed to determine whether Fas and FasL promoter polymorphisms are associated with clinical outcome in chronic HBV infection.


METHODS
A total of 1,095 Korean subjects were prospectively allocated to two different groups: 'the chronic carrier group' (CC; n = 666), who were repeatedly hepatitis B surface antigen (HBsAg)-positive, and 'the spontaneous recovery group' (SR; n = 429), who were HBsAg-negative with antibodies to HBsAg and hepatitis B core antigen. In addition, the CC group was subcategorized into chronic hepatitis and HCC subgroups. Fas promoter polymorphisms at -1377G>A and -670A>G and the FasL promoter polymorphism at -844C>T were analyzed for and the genotype distributions of subjects were compared.


RESULTS
There were no significant associations between Fas or FasL promoter polymorphism with the HBV clearance and HBeAg clearance. However, -1377G>A in Fas promoter region showed protective effect to HCC occurrence (RH = 0.70, p = 0.03).


CONCLUSIONS
Fas-1377G>A polymorphisms might be involved in the pathogenesis of human HCC.
Jung
Yong Jin
YJ
Department of Internal Medicine and Liver Research Institute, Seoul National University College of Medicine, Seoul, Korea.
Kim
Yoon Jun
YJ
Kim
Lyoung Hyo
LH
Lee
Soo Ok
SO
Park
Byung Lae
BL
Shin
Hyoung Doo
HD
Lee
Hyo-Suk
HS
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D006528:Carcinoma, Hepatocellular / Q000235:genetics; D002353:Carrier State; D053222:Fas Ligand Protein / Q000235:genetics*; D005260:Female; D020022:Genetic Predisposition to Disease; D005838:Genotype; D006509:Hepatitis B / Q000235:genetics*; D006514:Hepatitis B Surface Antigens / Q000097:blood; D019698:Hepatitis C, Chronic / Q000235:genetics; D006801:Humans; D007723:Korea; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011110:Polymorphism, Genetic; D011401:Promoter Regions, Genetic; D011446:Prospective Studies; D019014:fas Receptor / Q000235:genetics*
C505661:FASLG protein, human; D053222:Fas Ligand Protein; D006514:Hepatitis B Surface Antigens; D019014:fas Receptor