Associations between single nucleotide polymorphisms in RYBP and the prognosis of hepatocellular carcinoma in a Chinese population

Down-regulated RINGl and YYl binding protein (RYBP) is reported to be an independent predictor of a poor prognosis in patients with hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). However, the genetic association of RYBP polymorphisms with HCC risk and prognosis has not been investigated now. In this study, five RYBP SNPs, rs12956, rs2118593, rs17009699, rs4676875 and rs4532099, were studied from a hospital-based case-control study including 1100 cases (HCC patients) and 1100 controls (non-HCC patients) in Guangxi, China. All these SNPs interacted with environmental risk factors, such as HBV infection, alcohol intake and smoking in the pathogenesis of HCC. Compared to the CC genotype, patients with TT genotype of rs12956 had a decreased risk of HCC (OR = 0.587, 95% CI = 0.403 similar to 0.923) and an increased survival time (Co-dominant, HR = 0.745, 95% CI = 0.594 similar to 0.934), while those with TT genotype of rs2118593 had an increased risk of HCC (OR = 1.538, 95% CI = 1.093 similar to 2.735) and a decreased survival time (Co-dominant, HR = 1.447, 95% CI = 1.174 similar to 1.782). No significant difference was found between the other three RYBP polymorphisms with HCC risk and prognosis. Furthermore, we found that tumor number, tumor staging, metastasis and rs2118593 were associated with the overall survival of HCC patients by multivariate COX regression analysis. Our study suggests RYBP SNP, rs2118593 as a new predictor for poor prognosis of HCC patients.