Background: Hereditary hemochromatosis and SERPINA1 mutation were reported to affect liver functions. Our objective was to estimate the prevalence of HFE and SERPINA1 (formerly known as alpha1-antitrypsin, AAT) mutations and assess their influence on hepatocellular carcinoma development.
Methods: This study included 222 controls and 96 cases with hepatocellular carcinoma. PCR-RFLP was used to characterize S and Z alleles in SERPINA1, as well as C282Y/H63D alleles of HFE.
Results: In healthy subjects and hepatocellular carcinoma patients as well, no homozygotes for the C282Y mutation were found. In controls, heterozygosity and homozygosity for the H63D mutation were 27 and 0.9%, respectively. Among patients, homozygosity for the H63D mutation was 3.1%, whereas heterozygosity for C282Y and H63D was 2.1 and 35.4%, respectively. Interestingly, albeit it does not reach significance (p=0.062), H63D was more prevalent in hepatocellular carcinoma patients than in controls (38.5 vs. 27.9%, respectively). The association was stronger when considering only male patients with hepatocellular carcinoma (47.1 vs. 23.6, p=0.001). Allele frequencies of S and Z in controls were 0.45% (95% CI=0.2-1.07) and 0.22% (95% CI=0.2-0.6), respectively, and 1 for S and 0% for Z in HCC. No significant difference was found between cases and controls.
Conclusions: We provide a novel appraisal of HFE and SERPINA1 mutations prevalence in the Moroccan population. Results are consistent with the worldwide spread of the H63D and S mutation and the north European restriction of the C282Y and Z. Our results show that H63D carriage is increased among hepatocellular carcinoma patients, suggesting that it may confer an increased susceptibility to hepatocellular carcinoma even in a heterozygous state. On the contrary, HFE C282Y and SERPINA1 mutations do not contribute to hepatocellular carcinoma development.