Investigating the role of polymorphisms in miR-146a, -149, and -196a2 in the development of gastric cancer.

Here, we performed a case-control study to investigate the role of miR-146a, miR-149, and miR-196a2 polymorphisms in the development of gastric cancer using a hospital-based case-control design. A total of 186 gastric cancer patients and 186 control subjects were enrolled from Ren Ji Hospital between January 2012 and October 2014. MicroRNAs miR-146a, miR-149, and miR-196a2 were genotyped by polymerase chain reaction coupled with restriction fragment length polymorphism. Univariate logistic regression analysis revealed that patients with gastric cancer were more likely to be infected with Helicobacter pylori [odds ratio (OR) = 1.68, 95% confidence interval (CI) = 1.07-1.96]. Conditional multiple logistic regression analysis revealed that the TT genotype of miR-196a2 was associated with an increased risk of gastric cancer compared to the CC genotype (OR = 2.40; 95%CI = 1.26-4.61). Moreover, patients carrying both the TC and TT genotypes of miR-196a2 were correlated with an elevated risk of gastric cancer compared to those expressing the CC genotype alone (OR = 1.67, 95%CI = 1.01-2.75; P = 0.03). In conclusion, the results of our study indicated that the miR-196a2 polymorphism was associated with gastric cancer development.