Interleukin-17 Gene Polymorphisms Contribute to Cancer Risk

Abstract EN

Epidemiological studies have suggested that interleukin-17 (IL-17) polymorphisms are associated with cancer risk.

However, the results of these studies are inconsistent.

Therefore, we performed a meta-analysis to obtain a precise conclusion.

Odds ratios (ORs) with 95% confidence intervals (CIs) were used to assess the association of the IL-17A rs2275913G > A and IL-17F rs763780T > C polymorphisms with cancer risk.

Publication bias and sensitivity analyses were performed to ensure the statistical power.

Overall, 10 relevant case-control studies involving 4,516 cases and 5,645 controls were included.

The pooled ORs with 95% CIs indicated that the IL-17A rs2275913G > A polymorphism was significantly associated with increased cancer risk (for A versus G: OR = 1.28, 95% CI: 1.16–1.41, P < 0.001 , I 2 = 61.1 %; for GA versus GG: OR = 1.12, 95% CI: 1.02–1.23, P = 0.015, I 2 = 27.8 %; for AA versus GG: OR = 1.71, 95% CI: 1.38–2.41, P < 0.001 , I 2 = 69.6 %; for GA + AA versus GG: OR = 1.23, 95% CI: 1.13–1.34, P < 0.001 , I 2 = 6.4 %; for AA versus GG + GA: OR = 1.62, 95% CI: 1.27–2.07, P < 0.001 , I 2 = 81.4 %).

Succeeding analysis of HWE and stratified analysis of gastric cancer and the Asian (and Chinese) population revealed similar results.

The IL-17F rs763780T>C polymorphism was also significantly associated with gastric cancer development.

Overall, the present meta-analysis suggests that IL-17 polymorphisms increase the risk of developing cancer, particularly gastric cancer, in the Asian (and Chinese) population.