Liver Transplant Research Today is a free monthly online journal that collates and summarizes the latest research about Liver Transplant, including details on risks, prognosis, procedure, surgery, organ donation.

MMP2 promoter polymorphism (C-1306T) and risk of recurrence in patients with hepatocellular carcinoma after transplantation.

Wu LM, Zhang F, Xie HY, Xu X, Chen QX, Yin SY, Liu XC, Zhou L, Xu XB, Sun YL, Zheng SS

Department of Hepatobiliary and Pancreatic Surgery, the First Affiliated Hospital, Zhejiang University School of Medicine, Hangzhou, China.

Genetic variants in matrix metalloproteinase (MMP) gene may influence the biological function of these enzymes and change their role in carcinogenesis and progression. The effect of MMP2 C-1306T and MMP9 C-1562T polymorphisms on genetic susceptibility has been investigated in various kinds of cancer. However, the relationship between these polymorphisms and risk of recurrence of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) after liver transplantation (LT) has not been reported. The present study was designed to investigate the association of these two loci with the risk of HCC recurrence in 93 HCC patients treated with LT. Genotyping was performed using direct DNA sequencing. For MMP2 C-1306T variant, patients with CT heterozygous conferred a 58% reduction in recurrence risk (risk ratio: 0.419; 95% confidence interval: 0.177-0.994). The mean recurrence-free survival for CT genotype was significantly longer than that for homozygous CC patients (30.4 vs 19.3 months, p = 0.019). However, no association was found between MMP9 C-1562T polymorphisms and recurrence of HCC (p = 0.259). These findings suggest that MMP2 promoter polymorphisms may provide some predictive value for HCC recurrence after LT.

Published 13 February 2008 in Clin Genet, 73(3): 273-8.
Full-text of this article is available online (may require subscription).

© 2005-2008 Liver Transplant Research Today. All Rights Reserved.