An updated meta-analysis of XRCC4 rs1805377 polymorphism and the risk of cancer based on 23 case-control studies
Abstract Background The growing studies reports that the genes participating in repairing of DNA double-strand breaks may be cancer-susceptibility genes. Rs1805377 (A>G) is a functional single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) in the x-ray cross-complementing group 4 (XRCC4) gene that may be involved in the etiology of cancer. However, no conclusive results can be determined from individually published studies. Thus, we performed a meta-analysis to examine the association between XRCC4 rs1805377 polymorphism and cancer risk.Methods The potential literatures were searched using three online electronic databases (PubMed, Embase, and Web of Science). The available studies were included according to the inclusion criteria. The pooled analysis were performed to explore the association between XRCC4 rs1805377 locus and the risk of cancer. Additionally, we also performed subgroup analysis and sensitivity analysis.Results Twenty-three studies were included in our meta-analysis. It contained 9,433 cancer patients and 10,337 healthy controls. The pooled results showed that there was no association between rs1805377 and the risk of cancer. Under the dominant model, the final pooled odds ratios (ORs) was 1.115 (95% confidence intervals: 0.956-1.301; P = 0.165) in a random effects model without the statistical significance. The subgroup analysis by ethnicity and source of controls also didn’t find that rs1805377 polymorphism was related to cancer occurrence. In the subgroup by type of cancers, the significant association was only found in gastric antrum adenocarcinoma.Conclusions our meta-analysis suggested that there was no association between rs1805377 polymorphism and cancer occurrence. It may provide useful information for the relevant studies on the etiology of cancer in future.