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Genetic variants in microRNA associated with ovarian cancer risk, outcome
AACR 100th Annual Meeting
Researchers have identified gene variants in the microRNA pathway genes that may predict the risk for ovarian cancer, according to data presented at the AACR 100th Annual Meeting in Denver.
“We found that genetic variations in the microRNA pathway genes can contribute to ovarian cancer risk, treatment response and survival,” Xifeng Wu, MD, PhD, professor in the department of epidemiology at The University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center, said during her presentation.
Wu and colleagues conducted a case-control study that included 417 patients with ovarian cancer and 417 controls. The researchers genotyped 219 single nucleotide polymorphisms in microRNA processing pathway genes and binding sites to determine their relationship with ovarian cancer risk.
Twelve SNPs were significantly associated with ovarian cancer risk; SNP rs7813 from GEMIN4 was most significantly associated with risk (OR=0.71; 95% CI, 0.57-0.88).
Using the unfavorable genotype analysis, the researchers determined that increasing numbers of unfavorable genotypes increased the risk for ovarian cancer. Risk was much higher in individuals carrying six to seven (OR=1.99;95% CI, 1.38-2.88) or eight or more unfavorable genotypes (OR=4.49; 95% CI, 2.85-7.08) compared with those carrying five or less.
Twenty-one SNPs were significantly associated with OS and increasing numbers of unfavorable genotypes were also associated with poorer survival (P for trend <.0001). Patients carrying ≥10 unfavorable genotypes had a median survival of 24.24 months vs. 41.94 months for those carrying between seven and nine and 150.63 months for those carrying six or less.
Additionally, SNP rs1425486 was associated with decreased response to platinum-based chemotherapy (OR=3.38; 95% CI, 1.39-8.19) and a decreased risk for ovarian cancer (OR=0.62; 95% CI, 0.37-1.03).
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