Study of the association of Vitamin D Receptor Gene- FOK1 single nucleotide polymorphism with chronic HCV related hepatocellular carcinoma in sample of Egyptian patients and its relation to insulin resistance state.

Background and aim of the work : Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is the fifth common cause cancer - related death worldwide. The vitamin D receptor (VDR) is an intracellular hormone receptor that mediates vitamin D action and interacts with specific nucleotide sequences of target genes to produce a variety of biologic effects .The VDR gene polymorphisms have been identified that may influence cancer development including HCC .This study aims to evaluate the possible association between VDR gene polymorphism with (HCC) in top of chronic hepatitis C (HCV) patients and correlate it with insulin resistance (IR) . Subjects and Methods: 103 HCV related HCC, 44 non-viral HCC ,100 control subjects were analyzed for serum 1,25 (OH)2D, fasting insulin level using and VDR-FOK1 gene polymorphism. Results : showed that individuals with F/F homozygote have a lower risk in HCC development ,while others with f allele have a higher risk (with OR =2.3) and we found that vitamin D level was significant lower in HCC with IR in HCC cases than normal control. Conclusion: VDR genetic polymorphisms are significantly associated with the occurrence of HCV related HCC specially f allele carriers. Moreover, IR is associated with the course of chronic HCV infection and considered to be an additional predisposing factor for progression to HCC in such patients.