Association of genetic variants in enamel-formation genes with dental caries: A meta- and gene-cluster analysis.

Previous studies have reported the association between multiple genetic variants in the enamel-formation genes and the risk of dental caries with inconsistent results. We performed a systematic literature search of the PubMed, Cochrane Library, HuGE and Google Scholar databases for studies published before March 21, 2020 and conducted meta-, gene-based and gene-cluster analysis on the association between genetic variants in the enamel-formation genes and the risk of dental caries. We identified 21 relevant publications including a total of 24 studies for analysis. The genetic variant rs17878486 in was significantly associated with dental caries risk (OR = 1.40, 95% CI: 1.02-1.93,  = 0.037). We found no significant association between the risk of dental caries with rs12640848 in (OR = 1.15, 95% CI: 0.88-1.52,  = 0.310), rs1784418 in (OR = 1.07, 95% CI: 0.76-1.49,  = 0.702) and rs3796704 in (OR = 1.06, 95% CI: 0.96-1.17,  = 0.228). Gene-based analysis indicated that multiple genetic variants in showed joint association with the risk of dental caries (6 variants;  < 10), so did genetic variants in (3 variants;  = 0.004), (3 variants;  < 10), (2 variants;  < 10) and (2 variants;  < 10). The gene-cluster analysis indicated a significant association between the genetic variants in this enamel-formation gene cluster and the risk of dental caries ( < 10). The present meta-analysis revealed that genetic variant rs17878486 in was associated with dental caries, and multiple genetic variants in the enamel-formation genes jointly contributed to the risk of dental caries, supporting the role of genetic variants in the enamel-formation genes in the etiology of dental caries.