3.5x risk of hep-cancer in cirrhosis patients; higher glioma risk; 3x higher gallbladder cancer risk in females
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rs4444903 is a SNP, also known as +61, located in the promoter region of the epidermal growth factor EGF gene that influences the amount of EGF produced. The rs4444903(G) allele appears to produce higher amounts of EGF than the (A) allele. A study of 2 Caucasian populations of patients with alcoholic cirrhosis indicates that, for these patients, the presence of the risk allele rs4444903(G) increases the chances of developing hepatocellular carcinoma (liver cancer). After adjusting for age, sex, race, etiology, and severity of cirrhosis the number of (G) copies led to an odds ratio for either (G;G) or (A;G) genotypes versus the (A;A) genotype of 3.49 (CI: 1.29-9.44, p=.01). In another study, analysis of 197 glioma patients showed that the rs4444903(G) allele conferred higher risks for gliom...