Lack of an association between XRCC2 R188H polymorphisms and breast cancer: an update meta-analysis involving 35,422 subjects.

PURPOSE

Several studies have investigated the associations between XRCC2 R188H polymorphism and the susceptibility to breast cancer, but the results have been inconclusive. To derive a more precise estimation of the relationship, a meta-analysis was performed.

METHODS

PubMed and China National Knowledge Infrastructure (CNKI) searches were carried out for relevant studies published before March 2015. Meta-analysis was performed with the Stata, version 11.0.

RESULTS

A total of 17 case-control studies, including 17,986 cases and 17,436 controls, were selected. Crude odds ratios (ORs) with 95% confidence intervals (CIs) were used to assess the strength of association in the homozygous model, dominant model, and recessive model. When all the studies were pooled into the meta-analysis, there was no evidence showing a significant association between XRCC2 R188H polymorphism and breast cancer risk (for homozygous model, OR=0.84, 95% CI=0.62-1.14; for dominant model: OR=0.76, 95% CI=0.53-1.09; and for recessive model: OR=1.04, 95% CI=0.98-1.10). In the subgroup analysis by ethnicity, no significant association was found between the polymorphism and breast cancer risk.

CONCLUSIONS

In conclusion, this meta-analysis indicates that the XRCC2 R188H polymorphism is not a risk factor for developing of breast cancer.