No Association Between the GSTM1 Null Genotype and Risk of Renal Cell Carcinoma: A Meta-analysis

Background: Many studies have focused on possible associations between the glutathione S-transferase M1 (GSTM1) null genotype and risk of renal cell carcinoma (RCC), but the impact remains unclear owing toobvious inconsistencies among the findings. The present study aimed to quantify the strength of any associationin a meta-analysis.
Methods: We searched the PubMed, Embase and CBM databases for studies concerning theassociation between the GSTM1 null genotype and risk of RCC. We estimated the summary odds ratio (OR)with its 95% confidence intervals (95% CI) to assess the association.
Results: The meta-analysis showed theGSTM1 null genotype was not associated with risk of RCC overall (OR = 1.04, 95% CI 0.92-1.18, P = 0.501).For Caucasians, the GSTM1 null genotype was also not associated with risk of RCC (OR=1.02, 95% CI 0.90-1.16, P = 0.761). The cumulative meta-analyses showed a trend of no obvious association between GSTM1 nullgenotype and risk of RCC as information accumulated. Sensitivity analyses by omitting those studies also didnot materially alter the overall combined ORs. No evidence of publication bias was observed.
Conclusion: Metaanalysesof available data show that the GSTM1 null genotype is not significantly associated with risk of renalcell carcinoma.