Functional Polymorphisms in IRAKs Are Related to Hepatocellular Carcinoma Risk in Chinese Population

Interleukin 1 receptor associated kinases (IRAKs) play a central role in TLR signaling pathway. Scarce literature has investigated the association of potential functional genetic variants of IRAKs with Hepatitis B Virus- (HBV-) related hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC).

A case-control study with 1,538 HBV-positive HCC patients and 1,465 chronic HBV carriers was conducted to evaluate the effects of common missense variants of IRAK family members on HCC. Proliferation assays and real-time polymerase chain reactions were carried out to evaluate the functions. Multivariable adjusted logistic regression was adopted to estimate effect size and identify risk factors.

Association analysis indicated that rs4251545 A allele of IRAK4 (p.Ala428Thr) was positively associated with HBV-related HCC risk (OR = 1.30, 95% CI: 1.09-1.54, P = 0.003). Functional annotation indicated that rs4251545 reduced its own expression in liver (P = 0.031). Further molecular functional analysis detected that rs4251545 increased the proliferation rate of L02 cells (P < 0.05). Meanwhile, rs4251545 reduced mRNA expressions of IL-6, IL-8, CXCL-1, and CXCL-2 in L02 cells (P < 0.01).

rs4251545 of IRAK4 (p.Ala428Thr) modified the susceptibility to HBV-related HCC via increased proliferation rate and reduced production of inflammatory cytokines and chemokines. Further well-designed experiments are warranted to validate our findings.