Evaluation the susceptibility of five polymorphisms in microRNA-binding sites to female breast cancer risk in Chinese population

• Five SNPs in microRNA binding sites were not associated with breast cancer risk.
• Five SNPs were not associated with clinical characters of breast cancer.
• Rs1970801 T allele and menstruation age decreased breast cancer risk.

Polymorphisms in microRNA (miRNA) binding site have been widely discussed to be associated with cancer risk; however, the associations were unclear in Chinese population. To investigate the associations of five polymorphisms (rs11097457, rs1434536, rs1970801, rs1044129, rs11169571) in miRNA binding sites with breast cancer risk, a total of 435 female patients with breast cancer and 439 age- and gender-matched tumor-free individuals were enrolled in this case–control study. Sequenom MassARRAY was applied to detect the polymorphisms, and the immunohistochemistry assay was used to measure the expression of estrogen receptor (ER) and progesterone receptor (PR) and CerbB-2. The data showed that these polymorphisms were not associated with breast cancer risk or clinical characters of breast cancer in all participants and sub-group with the exception that, in the sub-group of women with their first menstruation after 14 years old, those who carried rs1970801 T allele (genotype TT/GT) were associated with decreased breast cancer risk. In short, this case–control study provided the evidence that women with their first menstruation after 14 years old and carried rs1970801 T allele (genotype TT/GT) were associated with decreased breast cancer risk.