Polymorphisms of matrix metalloproteinase-9 in hepatitis B-related cirrhosis

Objective The aim of this study was to probe the relationship of polymorphisms at position-1562 in the promoter region of the matrix metalloproteinase (MMP)-9 gene to the occurrence of HBV-related liver cirrhosis. Methods Restriction fragment length polymorphism PCR was used to study polymorphisms of MMP-9-1562C/T in 100 patients with HBV-related liver cirrhosis and in 124 healthy persons served as control. Results There were three kinds of genotypes at position -1562 of MMP-9, namely, CC genotype(435bp), CT genotype(435bp, 247bp, 188bp) and TT genotype(247bp, 188bp). No statistical significance was found at the distribution of the three genotypes and allele frequencies between HBV-related liver cirrhosis group and control group(P0.05). C/C, C/T and T/T genotype frequencies in patients were 70%, 24% and 6%, respectively, and those in control group were 69.35%, 24.2%and 6.49%(P0.50). C and T allele frequencies of MMP-9 were 84%,16% in patients, and 80.9%,19.1% in control group(P=0.916). Adjusted OR value was 0.970 (95%CI:0.431～2.182). Conclusion There is no significant association between gene polymorphisms at position-1562 in the MMP-9 promoter and susceptibility of HBV-related liver cirrhosis.