Abstract: Objective To investigate the correlation between the microRNA-146a rs 2910164 polymorphism and primary liver carcinoma（PLC） in a Guangxi Zhuang population． Methods Genotypes and alleles of rs 2910164 were determined in 110 PLC patients and 110 healthy controls in a Guangxi area with high PLC incidence using matrix-assisted laser desorption ionization time-of-flight mass spectrometry（MALDI-TOF MS）. Differences in the distribution of polymorphisms between patients and controls were analyzed by the chi-squared test.Correlation between the rs 2910164 polymorphism and PLC risk was evaluated by non-conditional logistic regression. Results The CG genotype was significantly more frequent in PLC patients than in controls（P=0.026），and it was associated with increased risk of PLC（OR=3.473，95%CI 1.116-10.802，P=0.032）．However，the frequency of the GG genotype was similar between the two groups（P>0.05）．Similarly，the frequencies of the C and G alleles were similar in patients（62.7% and 37.3%，respectively） and controls（67.7% and 32.3%，P>0.05）． Conclusions Carriers of the microRNA-146a rs 2910164 CG genotype are at elevated risk of PLC.This genotype may be a PLC risk factor in the Guangxi Zhuang population．

Key words: Liver neoplasms, microRNA-146a, rs 2910164, Single nucleotide polymorphisms