Association of single nucleotide polymorphisms in miR-499 and miR-196a with susceptibility to breast cancer

Purpose: To investigate the relationship between miR-499 rs3746444 and miR-196a rs11614913 polymorphisms, and susceptibility to breast cancer in an Iranian population. Methods: This case-control study was performed on a population of 200 subjects comprising 100 breast cancer patients (case/observation group) and 100 healthy individuals (control group). Amplification refractory mutation system-polymerase chain reaction (ARMS-PCR) was used to genotype these polymorphisms. P-values and odd ratios were determined, and p-values < 0.05 and odd ratios > 1 were considered statistically significant. Results: There were no significant differences between observation and control groups with respect to rs11614913 T/C polymorphism. The rs11614913 T allele was not identified as a risk factor for susceptibility to breast cancer (OR = 0.86, 95 % CI = 0.85 -1.3, p = 0.46). However, there were significant differences between observation and control groups with respect to rs3746444 T/C polymorphism. It was observed that cytosine-cytosine (CC) (OR = 4.5, 95 % CI = 1.3 -15.4, p = 0.06), and cytosine-thymine (CT) (OR = 1.9, 95% CI = 1-3.6, p = 0.04) genotypes had protective influence against susceptibility to breast cancer. Conclusion: These results indicate that CC and CT genotypes are associated with reduced risk of breast cancer. In particular, the presence of C allele is significantly associated with a low risk of breast cancer. These findings may provide useful information for prevention and early diagnosis of breast cancer.