Tumor necrosis factor-α play a very important role in the development and progression of hepatocellular carcinoma. previous reports have indicated that rs361525 might be a risk factor for various cancers. increasing studies have been conducted on the association of rs361525g>a polymorphism with hcc risk. however, the results remain inconclusive. thus, the present study aimed to address this controversy by meta-analysis.
Methods
Relevant literature was searched and screened (five studies with 541 cases and 795 controls). meta-analysis to investigate the association between tnf-α rs361525 and hcc susceptibility was performed. the hardy weinberg equilibrium was assessed by snp stat. the odds ratio of this snp and hcc risk was estimated for each study to assess the strength of the association. mantel test and cca were done by past software to examine the correlation between genotype distribution and geographical distance. moreover, pca analysis were done to estimate which countries are more close to each other based on genotype distribution.
Results
Meta-analysis of the five studies showed that rs361525 was not significantly associated with the risk of hcc. pca analysis showed india and korea were placed near each other and also china and brazil were in same part of pca plot. cca analysis and mantel test illustrated there was significant correlation between genotype distribution and geographical distance.
Conclusion
This meta-analysis suggests that rs361525 may not be associated with hcc susceptibility. however, further well designed studies with more samples and a representative population of hcc patients and matched controls are warranted to confirm this finding.
