Liang Tie-Jun, Ma Hui, Wang Cong-Xiao, Liu Yin-Rong, Wang Xing-Guo
Department of Digestive Diseases, Provincial Hospital affiliated to Shandong University, Jinan, 250021, People's Republic of China.
Tumour Biol. 2013 Dec;34(6):3483-90. doi: 10.1007/s13277-013-0926-5. Epub 2013 Jun 22.
Interleukin-18 (IL-18) is a key cytokine responsible for immune response and involved in the process of cancer development. The association of -137G>C polymorphism in the promoter region of IL-18 with cancer risk is still elusive based on current genetic association studies. We performed this meta-analysis to determine whether the -137G>C polymorphism is associated with cancer risk. A comprehensive search was conducted for databases of PubMed, EMBASE, and China National Knowledge Infrastructure. Pooled odds ratios (ORs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) were calculated to estimate the association strength. Publication bias was detected by Egger's and Begg's test. Twenty-one eligible studies including 3,498 cancer patients and 5,222 controls were identified and analyzed. In the overall analysis, no significant association between -137G>C polymorphism and cancer risk was observed. In the sub-group analyses of ethnicities, the -137G>C polymorphism significantly increased cancer risk in Asian population (GC/CC vs. GG: OR = 1.313, 95% CI = 1.053-1.638, heterogeneity P < 0.001) but not in Caucasian population. Further stratified analyses showed that the variant -137C allele was significantly associated with increased risk of nasopharyngeal carcinoma (C vs. G: OR = 1.484, 95% CI = 1.193-1.847, heterogeneity P = 0.213). No publication bias was detected. We provide evidence that the -137G>C polymorphism in IL-18 promoter region significantly increases cancer risk in Asian population but not in Caucasian population, and the variant -137C allele is associated with increased risk of nasopharyngeal carcinoma.
白细胞介素 -18（IL -18）是一种负责免疫反应并参与癌症发展过程的关键细胞因子。基于目前的基因关联研究，IL -18启动子区域 -137G>C多态性与癌症风险之间的关联仍不明确。我们进行了这项荟萃分析，以确定 -137G>C多态性是否与癌症风险相关。对PubMed、EMBASE和中国知网数据库进行了全面检索。计算合并比值比（OR）和95%置信区间（CI）以估计关联强度。通过Egger检验和Begg检验检测发表偏倚。共纳入并分析了21项符合条件的研究，包括3498例癌症患者和5222例对照。在总体分析中，未观察到 -137G>C多态性与癌症风险之间存在显著关联。在种族亚组分析中，-137G>C多态性显著增加了亚洲人群的癌症风险（GC/CC与GG相比：OR = 1.313，95%CI = 1.053 - 1.638，异质性P < 0.001），但在白种人群中未观察到这种关联。进一步的分层分析表明，-137C变异等位基因与鼻咽癌风险增加显著相关（C与G相比：OR = 1.484，95%CI = 1.193 - 1.847，异质性P = 0.213）。未检测到发表偏倚。我们提供的证据表明，IL -18启动子区域的 -137G>C多态性显著增加了亚洲人群的癌症风险，但在白种人群中未观察到这种情况，并且 -137C变异等位基因与鼻咽癌风险增加相关。
