| Article ID | Journal | Published Year | Pages | File Type |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 3261473 | Digestive and Liver Disease | 2016 | 6 Pages |
BackgroundSingle nucleotide polymorphisms within microRNAs are known to affect the risk in development and prognosis of many diseases. This study was designed to investigate whether polymorphism of microRNA-499 (miR-499, rs3746444 A>G) is associated with risk to biliary atresia (BA).MethodsA hospital-based cases–control study was performed on a total of 507 Han Chinese (207 BA cases and 300 ethnically-matched healthy controls without any evidence of liver diseases) so as to analyze the association between miR-499 rs3746444 polymorphism and BA risk as well as liver function remission (LFR) after liver transplantation.ResultsA significant higher frequency of the rs3746444 G alleles was found in the BA cases than the control group (odd ratio, 1.55, 95% confidence intervals [CIs], 1.15–2.10). This polymorphism was also observed to correlate with some clinic-pathological features of BA cases such as liver inflammatory. Further research found both higher levels of IL-6 (P < 0.05) and TNF-α (P < 0.05) in removed liver as well as in serum. What is more, the miR-499 rs3746444 polymorphism significantly affected the status of LFR (hazard ratio, 1.37; 95% CI, 1.08–1.83).ConclusionsMiR-499 (rs3746444) gene polymorphisms may be genetic determinants for increased risk of BA and prolonged recovery of BA patients after liver transplantation in Han Chinese.
