Identification of sequence polymorphisms in the mitochondrial cytochrome c oxidase genes as risk factors for hepatocellular carcinoma

Background Single nucleotide polymorphisms ( SNP s) accumulated in the mitochondrial DNA (mt DNA ) is susceptible to the tumor formation. We discovered previously that SNP s in the mitochondrial displacement loop (D‐loop) was associated with the risk of hepatocellular carcinoma ( HCC ). Methods The cytochrome c oxidase ( COX ) genes of mt DNA were sequenced between 107 HCC patients and 100 matched healthy controls. The χ 2 test was used to analyze single SNP s’ statistical difference between HCC patients and healthy controls. Results In this study, cancer risk‐associated SNP s in the COX genes of mt DNA coding region were assessed in HCC patients and health controls. The nucleotide position at site 9545A/G ( P=.036) was identified its association for HCC with the 9545G allele susceptible to cancer risk. Conclusions The SNP s in the COX genes may help us to evaluate the cancer risk of HCC .