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Donor interleukin 6 gene polymorphisms predict the recurrence of hepatocellular carcinoma after liver transplantation

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Abstract

Background

Application of the Milan criteria is an effective strategy to select patients with hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) for liver transplantation, but HCC recurrence is still a major concern. The aim of this study was to determine whether interleukin 6 (IL6) polymorphisms and clinical variables are potential predictors for HCC recurrence and prognosis after transplantation.

Methods

A total of 110 consecutive patients with HCC undergoing liver transplantation were enrolled in the study. Six tag single nucleotide polymorphisms in IL6 were genotyped in both the donors and recipients. Demographic characteristics, HCC features, and IL6 polymorphisms were assessed against HCC recurrence.

Results

Pretransplant hepatitis B virus DNA (P = 0.014), pretransplant serum alpha-fetoprotein (P = 0.035), number of nodules (P = 0.011), diameter of main nodule (P = 0.001), macrovascular invasion (P = 0.001), microvascular invasion (P = 0.001), HCC exceeding the Milan criteria (P < 0.001), and donor rs2069852 AA genotype (P = 0.010) were associated with HCC recurrence. Recurrence-free survival rate and overall survival rate were significantly lower (P = 0.011 and P = 0.026, respectively) in patients whose donor had the rs2069852 AA genotype than in those whose donor had the AG and GG genotypes. Independent risk factors for recurrence-free survival and overall survival were microvascular invasion (P = 0.003; P = 0.002), HCC exceeding the Milan criteria (P < 0.001; P = 0.001), and donor rs2069852 AA genotype (P = 0.002; P = 0.010).

Conclusions

Our data suggest that donor IL6 rs2069852 polymorphisms may be a potential genetic marker for HCC recurrence after liver transplantation in the Han Chinese population.

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Acknowledgments

This work was supported by the Scientific Research Project of Science and Technology Commission of Shanghai Municipality (No. 134119a6300).

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Author notes

    Authors and Affiliations

    1. Department of Hepatopancreatobiliary Surgery, Jiangyin People’s Hospital, School of Medicine, Southeast University, Jiangyin, China

      Dawei Chen, Shuanghai Liu & Sheng Chen

    2. Department of General Surgery, Shanghai First People’s Hospital, School of Medicine, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, No. 100, Haining Road, 200080, Shanghai, China

      Zhaowen Wang, Junwei Fan & Zhihai Peng

    3. Department of Hepatobiliary Surgery, The Affiliated Hospital of Medical College, Qingdao University, Qingdao, China

      Zehua Wu & Kai Ma

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    1. Dawei Chen
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    Correspondence to Junwei Fan or Zhihai Peng.

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    No author has any conflict of interest.

    Ethics statement

    Written informed consent forms were obtained from all donors and recipients. The study was approved by the Ethics Committee of Shanghai Jiao Tong University and was conducted strictly under the guidelines of the Declaration of Helsinki.

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    D. Chen and S. Liu are contributed equally to this work.

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    Chen, D., Liu, S., Chen, S. et al. Donor interleukin 6 gene polymorphisms predict the recurrence of hepatocellular carcinoma after liver transplantation. Int J Clin Oncol 21, 1111–1119 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10147-016-1001-1

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    • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10147-016-1001-1

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