MiR-124 Rs531564 Polymorphism Influences Genetic Susceptibility to Cervical Cancer

Cervical cancer is the fourth most common cancer among women worldwide. It most frequently results from human papillomavirus (HPV) infection; however, recent evidence suggests that there may be underlying genetic factors, specifically in regions encoding microRNAs, dictating susceptibility to cervical cancer. This study investigated the relationship between the miR-124 rs531564 gene polymorphism and genetic susceptibility to cervical cancer in Chinese Han women. From January 2011 to July 2013, 158 Chinese Han cervical cancer patients and 260 healthy Chinese Han females were recruited to provide blood samples. The miR-124 rs531564 (C > G) polymorphism genotype was determined by polymerase chain reaction-based ligase detection reaction (PCR-LDR), and multivariate logistic regression analysis was used to deduce the relationship between the miR-124 rs531564 variant and cancer diagnosis. As expected, the incidence of HPV infection in cervical cancer patients was significantly higher than controls (P < 0.001). Logistic regression analysis showed that a CG genotype was associated with reduced risk of cervical cancer compared to the wildtype CC genotype (OR = 0.46, 95% CI: 0.19-0.92); the findings were similar when the variant genotypes were combined (CG + GG; OR = 0.42, 95% CI: 0.17-0.86). The G allele was associated with reduced risk of cervical cancer (OR = 0.45, 95% CI: 0.14-0.89) particularly among women over age 40 (OR = 0.31, 95% CI: 0.12-0.84), as well as reduced risk of HPV infection (OR = 0.59, 95% CI: 0.28-0.93). These results further support a role for genetic susceptibility in miR-124 rs531564 in determining the risk of cervical cancer in Chinese Han women.