MicroRNA Processing and Binding Site Polymorphisms Are Not Replicated in the Ovarian Cancer Association Consortium

Background: Single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNP) in microRNA-related genes have been associated with epithelial ovarian cancer (EOC) risk in two reports, yet associated alleles may be inconsistent across studies.

Results: After adjustment for European ancestry, no overall association was observed between any of the analyzed SNPs and EOC risk.

Conclusions: Common variants in these evaluated genes do not seem to be strongly associated with EOC risk.

Impact: This analysis suggests earlier associations between EOC risk and SNPs in these genes may have been chance findings, possibly confounded by population admixture. To more adequately evaluate the relationship between genetic variants and cancer risk, large sample sizes are needed, adjustment for population stratification should be carried out, and use of imputed SNP data should be considered