Association of the mir‑499 polymorphisms with oral cavity and oropharyngeal squamous cell carcinoma in an Iranian population

Abstract

Background: Oral squamous cell carcinoma (SCC) is the most common oral malignancy. Some
evidence indicated that there is a correlation between microRNA single nucleotide polymorphisms
and the risk of oral cancer. The aim of the current study was to investigate the association between
mir‑499 polymorphism with the risk of oral cavity and oropharyngeal SCC in a subset of Iranian
Population.
Materials and Methods: In this case–control pilot study total of 112 participants including 56
histopathlogically confirmed oral and oropharyngeal SCC patients and 56 age‑ and sex‑matched
controls were included The mir‑499 rs3746444 T/C polymorphism was detected using polymerase
chain reaction‑restriction fragment length polymorphism method. The comparisons of the
distribution of the allele and genotype frequencies were performed using Chi‑square test, and
P < 0.05 was considered as statistically significant.
Results: The result of the present study indicated that the frequency distribution of mir‑499
was not significantly different between cases and controls (P > 0.05). We also did not find any
significant association between the risk of the cancer and mir‑499 polymorphisms in the recessive
(Odds ratio [OR]: 6.60; 95% confidence interval [CI]: 0.77–56.74; P = 0.11) and dominant (OR: 1;
95% CI: 0.37–2.74; P = 1) inheritance models even after adjustment for smoking.
Conclusion: The results of the present study indicated that the polymorphisms of mir‑499 are
not associated with the risk of oral and oropharyngeal SCC in Iranian population. However, further
large scale studies are needed to validate our findings.