GENETIC ANALYSIS OF KLF2 IN RELATION TO LIVER CANCER

Abstract

Liver Cancer particularly, Hepatocellular Carcinoma is a serious global health challenge due to its rising incidence and high mortality rates. There are almost 906,000 new cases and 830,000 deaths every year because to liver cancer. It is ranked sixth based on incidence rate and the third highest in terms of mortality. The symptoms of HCC don’t appear unless it is in the advanced stage and there are limited treatment options. Therefore, there is a need to understand the molecular mechanisms of HCC to develop better diagnostic and treatment options. KLF2 is a member of KLF family that is a large family of C2H2 zinc finger DNA binding domains that have a role in gene expression. KLF2 has been involved in many cancers but very less attention is paid in context to single nucleotide polymorphism. Hence, the purpose of this study is to evaluate that whether the SNPs in KLF2 affect liver cancer prognosis and susceptibility. The two unique KLF2 SNP variants are identified and linked with liver cancer to analyze their effect on the Pakistani population. These SNPs in KLF2 affect protein-protein interactions as well as its structure and function. There was a positive association between KLF2 variant rs747983105 and liver cancer. As a result, these findings suggest that this variant can be used as a prognostic biomarker in liver cancer.