mir-146a rs2910164 polymorphism and lung cancer in a tehran population

Lung cancer is still the most common cancer worldwide in terms of the number of newly diagnosed cases and mortality rate. the expression of mir-146a was reduced in mesenchymal-like lung cancer cell lines. the overexpression of mir-146a induced a marked reduction of the mesenchymal marker and increase in the epithelial marker in lung cancer cell lines. the current study investigated the association of mir-146a genotypes and lung susceptibility in a tehran population to determine the visibility of using rflp-pcr genotype. the results revealed a significantly higher frequency of mir-146a cg and cc genotypes (p =0.01 and p=0.008, respectively) in patients compared with the control group. those with the mir-146a gc and cc genotypes had an increased risk for developing lung cancer (or=1.9; 95% ci: 1.1-3.3 and or=4.1; 95% ci: 1.5-12.3, respectively). moreover, the frequency rates of mir-146a cc genotype and c allele were significantly higher in patients than in the controls (p =0.006 and p=0.000, respectively).