Study on the Relationship of Demographic Characteristics of rs1053004 in STAT3 Gene in Patients with HCC following Chronic HBV Infection

Background and Aims: Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is one of the most important common cancers in the world. The main etiology of this cancer in developing and third world countries is due to the infection with hepatitis B and C viruses. Hepatitis B and C viruses (HCV) would both cause liver cancer but the incidence of the disease in relation to the age and gender has not been determined. The present study was conducted to evaluate the relation between some demographic characteristics with rs1053004 polymorphism in STAT3 gene among patients with liver cancer following chronic hepatitis B infection and its comparison with healthy subjects. Materials and Methods: In this study, 33 tissue samples of liver cancer from pationts with HBV infection, 50 blood samples from patients with chronic hepatitis B and 50 blood samples from healthy subjects, as the control group, were obtained to determine rs1053004 polymorphism in STAT3 gene (signal transducer factor and activator of transcription in the nucleus) using Real Time PCR method. Results: In the present study 133 subjects were evaluated and from them, 50 (37.6%) were healthy and 50 of the participants (37.6%) had chronic hepatitis B and 33 (24.8%) had HCC. 69.9% of the participants (93 participants) were male and 30.1% (40 participants) were female. According to the results, the gender of the participants in the studied groups had no significant relation with their SNPrs1053004 polymorphism. But the relation between gender and liver cancer was statistically significant (p < 0001); indicating that the prevalence of liver cancer was higher among men than women. The average age of the healthy group was 35.86 years, of the chronic hepatitis B group was 40.4 years and of the HCC group was 53.78 years. Based on the results, the difference in age groups of chronic hepatitis B group and HCC pationts was statistically significant as compared with the control group (p < 0.001). Conclusions: Results of the present study showed no significant relation between the presence of rs1053004 polymorphism in STAT3 gene (signal transducer factor and activator of transcription in the nucleus) and gender of the participants but the difference between the ages of the healthy group, chronic hepatitis B group and HCC group was statistically significant. In other words, age could be a predicting factor in developing HCC.