These results suggested that polymorphisms at rs2280883 within the FOXP3 gene may be Tanespimycin mw associated with idiopathic infertility, while polymorphisms at rs3761549 may be related to endometriosis. However, it remains unclear whether FOXP3 gene polymorphism is associated with hepatitis B-related HCC. Based on FOXP3 gene SNP genotype data from the HapMap Phase II + Phase III database, two

tagSNPs, rs2280883 and rs3761549, were selected for genotyping because these two SNPs could cover 80% of the MAF > 0.1 SNPs. To investigate the correlation between specific SNPs in the FOXP3 gene and hepatitis B-related HCC, Matrix-Assisted Laser Desorption/Ionization Time of Flight (MALDI-TOF) Mass Spectrometry was used to screen for the presence of the FOXP3 gene polymorphisms in HCC donors, CHB donors and healthy donors. Here, we present data describing Selleck STI571 an association between FOXP3 genetic variation and susceptibility to hepatitis B-related HCC in all donors. Materials and methods Study subjects and peripheral blood samples Peripheral blood samples were obtained from 392 HCC patients, 344 CHB patients and 372 healthy donors. HCC patients were treated at the Guilin Medical University-affiliated hospital between November 2001 and April 2010. CHB patients with diagnoses

conformed to the buy CH5183284 latest diagnostic criteria [20] were from the Peking University Hepatology Institute (Peking, China) between November 2001 and April 2010. Healthy donors were patients undergoing routine physical examination at Peking University People’s Hospital. General patient information was Morin Hydrate recorded in detail, including age, gender, alcohol abuse, cirrhosis, presence of hepatitis B or hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection, alpha-fetoprotein (AFP), alanine aminotransferase (ALT), aspartate aminotransferase (AST), γ-glutamyl transpeptidase (GGT) and total bilirubin (TBIL) levels; this information is

provided in Table 1. HCC patient information, such as primary tumor size, histologic tumor type, histologic grade, lymph node (LN) stage, portal vein thrombosis and distant metastasis, were routinely assessed according to the TNM staging criteria proposed in 2002 by the International Union against Cancer (UICC) and American Joint Committee on Cancer (AJCC). All CHB patients have been screened by B-ultrasound and CT examination to exclude cancers. Healthy donors were selected at random; none had HBV and HCV infection according to screening for HBsAg and anti-HCV, and donors with liver cirrhosis or tumor-related diseases were excluded by B-ultrasound and CT examination. The study was implemented after receiving the approval of the Medical Ethics Committee of Peking University People’s Hospital. Written informed consent was obtained from all patients prior to sample collection according to the Declaration of Helsinki in 1995 (as revised in Tokyo, 2004).