Abstract

Hepatocellular carcinoma is one of the most progressive and aggressive cancer kinds worldwide. In various populations, the pathogenetic link between genetic polymorphisms of matrix-metalloproteinases, vascular endothelial growth factor and hepatocellular carcinoma is variable and limited. The aim of the present study was to retrospectively evaluate the clinical and genetic post-transplantation results of Turkish hepatocellular carcinoma patients treated with orthotopic liver transplantation. Genotypic distributions of the vascular endothelial growth factor -141A/C, -460 C/T and +405 C/G; matrix-metalloproteinase-2 -735 C/T and matrix-metalloproteinase-1 -1607 1G/2G polymorphisms were in Hardy–Weinberg equilibrium in patient and control groups (P > 0.05). In case-control analysis, the distribution of genotypes and allele frequencies did not differ from those in the control group (P > 0.05). In genotype-phenotype correlation analysis; for matrix-metalloproteinase-1-1607 1G/2G polymorphism, 2G/2G genotype was associated with portal ven invasion (P < 0.02). The post-transplantation findings indicated a 4-year survival in 77.3% and a post-transplantation overall survival without recurrence in 96.2% of the patients group.

Key words: Hepatocellular carcinoma, orthotopic liver transplantation, vascular endothelial growth factor, matrix-metalloproteinase, single nucleotide polymorphism.