Analysis of Rare Alleles of <i>miRNA-146a (rs2910164)</i> and <i>miRNA-34b/c (rs4938723)</i> as a Prognostic Marker in Thyroid Cancer in Pakistani Population

Abstract

Background: Rationale: The miRNAs are short non-coding functional RNAs that are involved in the regulation of transcriptomes. It was found that human miRNA-146a and miRNA34b/c are important microRNAs and are functioning either as onco-miRNAs, or acting as tumor suppressors, in different conditions. To date, no study has been performed to evaluate the alterations of miRNA-146ars2910164 and miRNA34b/crs4938723 polymorphism as a risk factor in the development of thyroid cancer in the Pakistani population. Mutational analysis of rs2910164 and rs4938723 of miRNA-146a and miRNA-34b/c was carried out to check their association with the development of thyroid carcinogenesis. Material and Methods: Papillary thyroid cancer (PTC) patients with age and gender-matched controls were recruited for the present study. DNA extraction, genotyping of rs2910164 and rs4938723 was carried out by ARMS-PCR. Statistical analyses were carried out using SPSS software (version 20). Results: The odds ratio for risk allele C of rs2910164 for patients and controls was 23.0168 (3.0321–174.7208) with a p-value of rs4938723 was 1.8621 (1.0321–3.3596) with a p-value of miRNA-146a (rs2910164) showed higher frequency of minor allele C in patients. Similarly in miRNA-34b/c gene SNP rs4938723 was observed to have a strong association with the development of thyroid cancer as the frequency of rare allele C was higher in patients.

Keywords

• papillary thyroid carcinoma
• <i>rs4938723</i>
• <i>miRNA-34b/c</i>
• <i>miRNA-146a</i>
• <i>rs2910164</i>
• thyroid cancer