Background: The correlation between methylenetetrahydrofolate reductase (MTHFR) gene polymorphisms and hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) remains controversial. Objectives: We performed this study to better assess the relationship between MTHFR gene polymorphisms and the likelihood of HCC. Methods: A systematic research of PubMed, Medline, and Embase was performed to retrieve relevant articles. ORs and 95% CIs were calculated. Results: A total of 15 studies with 8,378 participants were analyzed. In overall analyses, a significant association with the likelihood of HCC was detected for the rs1801131 polymorphism with fixed-effect models (FEMs) in recessive comparison (p = 0.002, OR 0.62, 95% CI 0.43–0.82). However, no positive results were detected for the rs1801133 polymorphism in any comparison. Further subgroup analyses revealed that the rs1801131 polymorphism was significantly associated with the likelihood of HCC in Asians with both FEMs (recessive model: p < 0.0001, OR 0.42, 95% CI 0.29–0.62; allele model: p = 0.004, OR 1.20, 95% CI 1.06–1.35) and random-effect models (recessive model: p = 0.002, OR 0.47, 95% CI 0.29–0.75). Nevertheless, we failed to detect any significant correlation between the rs1801133 polymorphism and HCC. Conclusions: Our findings indicated that the rs1801131 polymorphism may serve as a genetic biomarker of HCC in Asians.
Multicentric prospective study of validation of angiogenesis-related gene polymorphisms in hepatocellular carcinoma patients treated with sorafenib: results of INNOVATE study
