Genetic Variations of miRNAs and the Risk of Oral Squamous Cell Carcinoma: A Case-control Study

Abstract

Aim:In this study, we investigated the association between two miRNA variants and the risk of oral squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC), and explored the interaction between clinical factors in the Turkish population.Methods:In this case control study, a total of 142 subjects were genotyped by polymerase chain reaction-restriction fragment length polymorphism to analyze miR-146aG/C (rs2910164) and miR-149C/T (rs2292832) variants. Associations between OSCC risk and clinicopathological characteristics were analyzed by chi-square test.Results:There was a significant difference in genotype and allele frequencies of miR-146aG/C variant between patients and control individuals. miR-146aG/C CC genotype and C allele were higher in the patient group compared to the control group (p=0.000, p=0.0001, respectively). Significant differences were also observed when the patients and the controls were compared according to CC vs GG+GC (p=0.0002) and GG vs GC+CC (p=0.002). In combined analysis, CC-CT combined genotype increased in patient group compared to controls (p=0.002), while GC-CT combined genotype increased in controls compared to patients (p=0.028).Conclusion:Our study provides evidence that miR-146aG/C variant may play an important role in susceptibility to OSCC in the Turkish population.

Keywords

• oral squamous cell carcinoma
• microrna
• variant