O- 8 PNPLA3 RS738409 C>G POLYMORPHISM IMPACT ON HCV-RELATED HCC DEVELOPMENT IN THE BRAZILIAN POPULATION: PRELIMINARY RESULTS

Introduction and Objectives

The PNPLA3 rs738409 C>G polymorphism has been associated with hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) and liver cirrhosis regardless of the etiology, although the association was stronger with non-viral etiologies. However, the influence of PNPLA3 polymorphism on Hepatitis C Virus (HCV) and whether this polymorphism could be a risk factor for HCV-related HCC is not well defined. We aimed to evaluate the influence of the PNPLA3 rs738409 C>G polymorphism on the risk of HCC occurrence in HCV patients in Brazil.

Materials and Methods

This study included 90 patients with HCV-related cirrhosis and HCC who underwent liver transplantation or resection at a tertiary center in Brazil and 111 patients non-HCC with HCV-related cirrhosis, as the control group. The rs738409 polymorphism was detected in the DNA extracted from patients' blood samples using the TaqMan assay. All clinical data were collected using the Research Electronic Data Capture (REDCap) tool. The statistical analyses were performed using Jamovi software version 2.3.23.

Results

In the HCV+HCC group there was a higher proportion of male gender (79.1% vs. 45.9%, p<0.001), history of alcoholism (80.5% vs. 22.5%, p<0.001) and smoking (68.9% vs. 25.2%, p<0.001), however there was no statistical difference in age (p=0.519) and BMI (p=0.403) between both groups. The genotype frequencies of the rs738409 polymorphism in the HCV+HCC group was CC 41,2% CC and CG/GG 58,8% vs. controls CC 49,5% and CG/GG 50,5%. The presence of the G allele was not an independent factor associated with the risk of HCC occurrence (r=0,199, p=0.53).

Conclusions

Even in an admixed population such as the Brazilian, there was no association between the PNPLA3 rs738409 C>G polymorphism and the risk of developing HCV-related HCC, as previously shown in published studies in caucasian and oriental population.