IL-17 Gene Rs3748067 C>T Polymorphism and Gastric Cancer Risk: A Meta-analysis.

Objective: The purpose of this study was to investigate the correlation between Interleukin 17 (IL-17) gene rs3748067 C>T polymorphism and gastric cancer risk through pooling the open published data.

Method: Case-control or cohort studies relevant to IL-17 gene rs3748067 C>T polymorphism and gastric cancer susceptibility were systematic searched for in the databases of CNKI, Pubmed, Medline, Embase and Web of science. The association between IL-17 gene rs3748067 C>T polymorphism and gastric cancer risk were expressed with an odds ratio(OR) and 95% confidence interval (95% CI). Statistical heterogeneity across the studies was evaluated by I2 test. Publication bias was evaluated by Begg's funnel plot and Egger's line regression test.

Results: Finally, seven case-control studies were included in our present study. Because of the statistical heterogeneity among the included studies for the aspects of dominant (TT+CT vs CC), recessive (TT vs CT+CC) and homozygous genetic model (TT vs CC), the data was pooled by random effect model. The pooled ORs were OR=0.99 (95% CI: 0.65-1.52), OR =1.23 (95% CI: 0.73-2.06 ) and OR=1.14 (95% CI: 0.58-2.27) for dominant, recessive and homozygous genetic model respectively. The pooled data indicated no correlation between IL-17 gene rs3748067 C>T polymorphism and gastric cancer risk. Significant publication bias was found in the dominant genetic model (p<0.05), but not in recessive and homozygous genetic model (p>0.05).

Conclusion: Based on the present evidence, there was no correlation between IL-17 gene rs3748067 C>T polymorphism and gastric cancer susceptibility in all genetic model. However, for the small sample size, significant heterogeneity and publication bias, the conclusion should be further evaluated through well designed case-control or cohort studies.