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MicroRNAs (miRNAs) of the miR-30 family are closely linked with tumor metastasis and play key roles in the complex malignant phenotypes of cancers by targeting many tumor-related genes. Deregulated expression of miR-30 family members has been commonly observed in breast cancer. However, associations between the genetic variants in the regulatory region of miR-30 family and the risk of breast cancer are still limited, especially in the Chinese Han population. In the present study, we conducted a case-control analysis wherein 1064 breast cancer patients and 1073 healthy controls underwent genotyping of 10 SNPs in the regulatory region of miR-30 family members. Multivariate logistic regression analyses illustrated that the rs763354 variant in the miR-30a regulatory region was linked with a significant decrease in breast cancer risk in an additive model (adjusted OR = 0.86 , 95% CI: 0.75-0.98, P = 0.022). Further, eQTL analyses also indicated that this SNP was associated with miR-30a expression levels in breast cancer samples compiled in the TCGA database (P = 0.020). The Kaplan-Meier plotter showed that breast cancer patients with higher miR-30a expression have significantly better outcomes than do patients expressing low levels of this miRNA (HR = 0.75 , 95% CI: 0.61-0.91, P = 0.0041). Together, these findings suggest that the miR-30a rs763354 SNP is an important regulator of breast cancer risk, thus making it a potentially viable prognostic biomarker and one that can be used to guide therapeutic treatment in affected patients. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background Many cohort studies have explored the relation between tea consumption and stroke risk; however, the conclusions have been inconsistent. In addition, evidence is lacking in China, where the patterns of tea consumption and main types of tea consumed differ substantially from those in high-income countries. Objective We aimed to systematically assess the association of tea consumption with the risk of stroke based on a Chinese large-scale cohort study. Methods A total of 487,377 participants from the China Kadoorie Biobank were included in the present study. Detailed information about tea consumption (including frequency, duration, amount, and tea type) was self-reported at baseline. After ∼4.3 million person-years of follow-up, 38,727 incident cases of stroke were recorded, mainly through linkage with mortality and morbidity registries and based on the national health insurance system. Results Overall, 128,280 adults (26.3%) reported drinking tea almost daily (41.4% men, 15.9% women), predominantly green tea (86.7%). Tea consumption had an inverse and dose–response relation with the risk of stroke (P trend < 0.001). Compared with nonconsumers, those who consumed tea occasionally, weekly, and daily had adjusted HRs and 95% CIs of 0.96 (0.94, 0.99), 0.94 (0.90, 0.98), and 0.92 (0.89, 0.95) respectively, with little difference by stroke type. Among those who consumed tea daily, the HRs for stroke decreased with the increasing duration and amount of tea consumed (all P  < 0.001). These inverse associations were significant for green tea but not for other types of tea. Among men, but not women, the inverse relations could be detected, and similar inverse associations could be found for male noncurrent alcohol-consumers and noncurrent smokers as well. Conclusions Among Chinese adults, higher consumption of tea, especially green tea, was associated with a lower risk of ischemic and hemorrhagic stroke. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

POU5F1 is a key regulator of self-renewal and differentiation in embryonic stem cells and may be associated with initiation, promotion, and progression in cancer. We hypothesized that functional polymorphisms in POU5F1 may play an important role in modifying the lung cancer risk. To test this hypothesis, we conducted a case-control study to explore the association between 17 potentially functional SNPs in POU5F1 gene and the lung cancer risk in 1,341 incident lung cancer cases and 1,982 healthy controls in a Chinese population. We found that variant alleles of rs887468 and rs3130457 were significantly associated with increased risk of lung cancer after multiple comparison (OR = 1.29, 95% CI: 1.11–1.51, Pfdr=0.017 for rs887468; OR = 1.29, 95% CI: 1.10–1.51, Pfdr=0.034 for rs3130457, resp.). In addition, we detected a significant interaction between rs887468 genotypes and smoking status on lung cancer risk (P=0.017). Combined analysis of these 2 SNPs showed a significant allele-dosage association between the number of risk alleles and increased risk of lung cancer (Ptrend<0.001). These findings indicate that potentially functional polymorphisms in POU5F1 gene may contribute to lung cancer susceptibility in a Chinese population. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]