Purpose: Production of reactive oxygen species (ROS) during chronic inflammation has been implicated in the progression of liver diseases and carcinogenesis. Subjects with inflammatory liver disease and one non-functional allele of the base excision repair gene, MYH, may be more susceptible to progression to cancer due to MYH haploinsufficiency in repairing oxidative damage caused by ROS. Here, we investigated the association of two common germline MYH mutations in patients with hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) and cholangiocarcinoma.
Methods: DNA from patients with HCC (n=48) or cholangiocarcinoma (n=84) compared to non-cancerous controls (n=308) were genotyped for the Y165C and G382D mutations in MYH.
Results: There was no significant difference in MYH mutation carrier status between patients with HCC (1/48), cholangiocarcinoma (3/84), and non-cancerous controls (4/308).
Conclusions: Patients with HCC or cholangiocarcinoma do not have an increased incidence of monoallelic MYH mutations pre-disposing them to disease.