Abstract
The potentially functional polymorphism, rs763110 (−844C>T), in the promoter region of the FAS ligand (FASL) gene, has been implicated in cancer risk, but individually published studies show inconclusive results. To derive a more precise estimation of the association between the FASL rs763110 and risk of cancer, we performed a meta-analysis of 19 published studies that included 11 105 cancer cases and 11 372 controls. We used odds ratios (ORs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) to assess the strength of the associations. Overall, the rs763110 CT and TT variant genotypes were associated with a significantly reduced cancer risk of all cancer types in different genetic models (homozygote comparison: OR=0.80, 95% CI: 0.68–0.95, Pheterogeneity=0.001; heterozygote comparison: OR=0.82, 95% CI: 0.72–0.95, Pheterogeneity<0.001; dominant model comparison: OR=0.82, 95% CI: 0.71–0.94, Pheterogeneity<0.001; and recessive model comparison: OR=0.88, 95% CI: 0.81–0.96, Pheterogeneity=0.074). In the stratified analyses, the risk remained for studies of the smoking-related cancers and Asian populations, or population-based studies in all the genetic models. Although some modest bias could not be eliminated, this meta-analysis suggests that the FASL rs763110 T allele has a possible protective effect on cancer risk.
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Acknowledgements
We thank Qingyi Wei (Department of Epidemiology, The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center) for critical comments and scientific editing and Guangfu Jin for his assistance in data analysis.
This study was partly supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (30271105, 30571583, 30800926, and 30872084), the PhD Programs Foundation of Ministry of Education of China (20060312002), the Natural Science Foundation of Jiangsu Province (BK2006231), the Postdoctoral Science Foundation of China (20060390293), the Postdoctoral Science Foundation of Jiangsu Province (0601049) and ‘Qinglan Project’ Foundation for the Young Academic Leader of Jiangsu Province (2006).
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Zhang, Z., Qiu, L., Wang, M. et al. The FAS ligand promoter polymorphism, rs763110 (−844C>T), contributes to cancer susceptibility: evidence from 19 case–control studies. Eur J Hum Genet 17, 1294–1303 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1038/ejhg.2009.45
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/ejhg.2009.45
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