MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are a family of small noncoding RNAs that act as oncogenes and tumor suppressors. Single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in miRNAs may be associated with changes in phenotype and function. The aim of this study was to verify whether genetic variations in candidate microRNA (miRNA or miR) genes could contribute to esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC) susceptibility. A case-control study in 248 Kazakh patients with ESCC and 300 frequency matched control subjects was carried out to examine the potential association of six miRNA (miR-100 rs1834306, miR-34b/c rs4938723, miR-375 rs6715345, miR-146a rs2910164, miR-423 rs6505162 and miR-373 rs12983273) polymorphisms with risk of ESCC. We found that miR-100 rs1834306 T>C polymorphism was associated with a significant decreased risk of ESCC. In the recessive model, when the miR-100 rs1834306 TT/TC genotypes were used as the reference group, the CC homozygote genotype was associated with a significant decreased risk for ESCC (adjusted OR=0.495, 95% CI: 0.349-0.702, P=8.05×10(-5)). In the dominant model, when the miR-100 rs1834306 TT genotypes was used as the reference group, the TC/CC genotype were associated with a borderline statistically decreased risk for ESCC (adjusted OR=0.665, 95% CI: 0.430-1.031, P=0.067). In addition, the miR-100 rs1834306 C allele in the Kazakh population was significantly associated with decreased risk of ESCC (OR=0.609, 95% CI: 0.48-0.78, P=8.37×10(-5)). These findings indicated that functional polymorphism miR-100 rs1834306 C>T might contribute to decreased ESCC risk.
Keywords: Kazakh; esophageal squamous cell carcinoma; miRNA; risk; single nucleotide polymorphisms.