Long Noncoding RNA H19 rs3741219 Polymorphism and Risk of Hepatocellular Carcinoma in Egyptian Population

Background: RNA molecules which are longer of 200 nucleotides that are unable for protein coding are known as long non-coding RNAs or LncRNAs. They play a vital role in different biological activities and cancer biology. Numerous long non-coding RNAs with tumor-suppressive and carcinogenic functions have been found in human hepatocarcinogenesis.
Objective: Exploring the role if lncRNA H19 (rs3741219) gene polymorphism plays in raising the hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) risk in Egyptian patients.
Patients and Methods: We performed this case-control study upon95 participants, 40 HCC patients diagnosed by Computed Topography (according to EASL guidelines), 35 cirrhotic patients, and 20 healthy subjects as control.
Result: A significant statistical difference between the three groups under study was found regarding child score (p = 0.028). The results of a univariate and multivariate analysis on the risk variables for HCC showed that liver size and child score were linked to a higher risk of HCC when compared with the cirrhosis group (P<0.05 and P=0.024, respectively). Comparing the HCC group versus the cirrhotic group, variant genotypes of rs3741219 were not significantly associated with the risk of HCC when compared with the wild genotype (AA) (P=0.230). Non-significant correlations were found between the variant genotypes AG/GG of rs3741229 (adjusted OR = 608, 95%CIs = 0.162–2.28, P = 0.679) and the risk of HCC.
Conclusion: Our research showed a non-significant correlation between the risk of HCC and the H19 (rs3741219) genotype variants.