IL12 Gene Polymorphism in Association with Hepatocellular Carcinoma in HCV-infected Egyptian Patients.
BACKGROUND
Hepatocellular carcinoma has been recorded the commonest cancer in Egypt. This increasing incidence may be attributed to the high prevalence of hepatitis C virus with its complications, so this study aimed to investigate the association between the potentially functional polymorphisms of IL12A and IL12B genes as a risk factor of development of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) on top of hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection in an Egyptian population.


METHODS
We genotyped two loci of IL12 which were rs568408 (3'UTR G>A) for IL12A and rs3212227 (3'UTR A>C) for IL12B in 78 patients with HCC on top of chronic HCV infection. In addition, 64 cancer-free chronic HCV patients were studied, besides 92 healthy subjects who were included as control.


RESULTS
Study of rs568408 (G>A) gene polymorphism showed that the A allele is higher while the G allele is lower in HCC cases than cancer-free chronic HCV patients (p = 0.006*). The A-containing genotypes AG and (AG+AA) were higher while the GG was lower (p = 0.009* and p = 0.005*), respectively. The study of the rs3212227 (A>C) polymorphism showed neither statistically significant differences between the C and A allele (p = 0.2) nor between CC, AC, or AC+CC in HCC cases and cancer-free chronic HCV patients (p = 0.7, p = 0.2, and p = 0.29), respectively.


CONCLUSIONS
Our findings showed that IL12A rs568408 (G>A) polymorphism may contribute to the risk of HCC on top of chronic HCV infection, whereas that of IL12B rs3212227 (A>C) do not.
a Clinical Pathology Department , Faculty of Medicine, Mansoura University , Mansoura , Egypt.
Heba Mosaad
HM
Elsayed
b Medical Microbiology and Immunology Department , Faculty of Medicine, Mansoura University , Mansoura , Egypt.
Yasmin
Y
Nabiel
c Internal Medicine Department , Faculty of Medicine, Mansoura University , Mansoura , Egypt.
Tarek
T
Sheta
D000368:Aged; D006528:Carcinoma, Hepatocellular / Q000235:genetics*; D004534:Egypt; D005260:Female; D005787:Gene Frequency; D056726:Genetic Association Studies; D020022:Genetic Predisposition to Disease; D005838:Genotype; D016174:Hepacivirus / Q000502:physiology*; D019698:Hepatitis C, Chronic / Q000235:genetics*; D006801:Humans; D053765:Interleukin-12 Subunit p35 / Q000235:genetics*; D053762:Interleukin-12 Subunit p40 / Q000235:genetics; D008113:Liver Neoplasms / Q000235:genetics*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D020641:Polymorphism, Single Nucleotide
C508858:IL12A protein, human; C500879:IL12B protein, human; D053765:Interleukin-12 Subunit p35; D053762:Interleukin-12 Subunit p40
Hepatitis C virus; hepatocellular carcinoma; interleukin-12; single-nucleotide polymorphisms