Abstract

Approximately 10-15% of the Nile Delta population are suffering from hepatitis C virus (HCV) epidemic. A genomic analysis has revealed the potential role of genetic variants as important determinants of susceptibility to hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). Egyptian cirrhotic patients have a high rate of HCC. The relationship between XRCC3 polymorphism and HCC risk has been the focus of many researches. Unfortunately, they have reached conflicting conclusions. The goal of the current study was to clarifying the correlation between XRCC3 T241M gene polymorphism and risk of development of HCC in HCV-infected Egyptian patients and to explore the role that polymorphism plays in the transition from chronic liver injury to dysplasia and ultimately HCC. A total of one hundred sixty-five (n=165) subjects were inscribed in this study and were subdivided into three groups. Group I included 50 healthy individuals who served as a control group. Group II included fifty-five patients (n=55) diagnosed with HCV, and Group III included sixty patients (n=60) with an established diagnosis of HCC in addition to HCV. Results: The results of the present study showed that the prevalence of T allele was highly frequent among HCC group (0.617) compared to the HCV group (0.545) and the control group (0.39). On the other hand, the C allele was remarkably frequent among the control group (0.61) compared to the HCV group (0.455) and the HCC group (0.383). There was a highly significant difference between the HCV and HCC groups in the allele frequencies relative to the control group (p=0.001). However, there was no substantial difference in allele frequencies between the HCV and HCC groups (p=0.08). Similarly, the TT genotype was highly frequent among the HCC group (45%) and the HCV group (29.1%) compared to the control group (12%). Moreover, the CC and CT genotypes were higher among the control group than both the HCV and HCC groups. Conclusions: The data obtained from the current study suggest that XRCC3 CT (rs861539) mutation may contribute to HCC development. Moreover, XRCC3 CT (rs861539) shows a strong correlation with HCC susceptibility in a high-risk (HCV-infected) Egyptian population

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