The association between the survivin gene -31G/C polymorphism and risk of hepatocellular carcinoma in Egyptian population.

Background: Survivin is one of the most crucial apoptosis inhibitory genes, playing a basic role in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) development and progression. The current study aims at investigating the relationship of survivin polymorphism with the risk of HCC in Hepatitis C virus-infected Egyptian population. Methods: the study was conducted on 120 Egyptian individuals divided into: healthy controls, fibrotic patients, cirrhotic patients and HCC patients (30 subjects/group). History and risk factors were collected and recorded for all cases. Polymorphism of the survivin gene, including one locus (rs9904341) was chosen for genotyping using (PCR-RFLP) technique. Results: No statistically significant difference was detected in the genotype or allele distribution of HCC subjects in respect to the controls (P>0.05). On the other hand, a significant difference could be detected in genotype or allele distribution in fibrosis and cirrhosis HCV patient groups compared to healthy controls (P<0.05). A significant difference in genotype or allele distribution was detected in HCC group compared to cirrhosis group (P<0.05). No statistically significant difference was found in genotype or allele distribution of fibrosis cases relative to the controls. Conclusion: No relationship between Survivin gene (-31G/C) polymorphism rs9904341 and the risk of HCC could be found in HCV-infected Egyptian population. However, a positive correlation could be detected between Survivin gene polymorphism and the risk of cirrhosis in the same population. The study also identified a relationship between survivin gene polymorphism in cirrhosis relative to fibrosis as well as between survivin gene (–31G/C) polymorphism rs9904341 in HCC relative to cirrhosis.