Associations of Gene Polymorphisms and Ankylosing Spondylitis Susceptibility: A Meta-analysis Based on 35 Case-control Studies.

BACKGROUND

Scores of studies on () gene polymorphisms and AS have been performed with inconsistent results. The purpose of this study was to provide some more convincing evidence on the associations of polymorphisms and AS by using a meta-analysis approach.

METHODS

Potentially relevant studies were identified from Web of Science, PubMed, EMBASE, Wanfang, and CNKI from inception to March 5, 2020. Newcastle-Ottawa Scale (NOS) was utilized to appraise the quality of included studies. Odds ratios (ORs) with 95% confidence intervals (95%CIs) were calculated to assess the strength of the associations under five genetic models.

RESULTS

Thirty-five studies with 37 independent cohorts in total were included in the meta-analysis. Based upon NOS, eligible studies were in moderate- to high quality. The merged data suggested polymorphisms were significantly correlated with a reduced risk of AS (C vs. T, OR = 0.55, 95%CI 0.38-0.79, < .001,  = 0.005,  = 0.003). Subgroup analysis by ethnicity indicated that polymorphism significantly increased the risk of AS in Caucasians and decreased the risk of AS in mixed populations. Besides, and polymorphisms conferred to an elevated risk of AS, and conferred to a reduced risk of AS in Asians.

CONCLUSIONS

This study suggests that polymorphism is associated with an increased AS risk in Caucasians, and polymorphisms are linked to an elevated AS susceptibility in Asians.