Contribution of Macrophage Migration Inhibitory Factor -173G/C Gene Polymorphism to the Risk of Cancer in Chinese Population

Background: Macrophage migration inhibitory factor (MIF) -173G/C (rs755622) gene polymorphism hasbeen associated with cancer risk. Previous studies have revealed that MIF -173G/C gene polymorphism mayincrease cancer in the Chinese population, while results of individual published studies remain inconsistentand inconclusive.We performed this meta-analysis to derive a more precise estimation of the relationship.Materials and
Methods: We conducted a search on PubMed, Embase, MEDLINE, Cochrane Library ,ChineseNational Knowledge Infrastructure (CNKI), Wanfang, Weipu on Dec 31, 2014.Odds ratio (OR) and 95%confidence interval (95% CI) were used to assess the association. A total of eight studies including 2,186 casesand 2,285 controls were involved in this meta-analysis.
Results: The pooled results indicated the significantassociation between MIF −173G/C polymorphism and the risk of cancer for Chinese population (CC + CGvs GG: OR=1.14, 95%CI=1.02-127, pheterogeneity<0.01; P =0.023; CC vs CG+GG: OR=1.12, 95%CI=1.02-1.23, pheterogeneity< 001; P =0.017;CC vs GG: OR=1.18, 95%CI=1.04-1.33, pheterogeneity<001; P =0.008;CG vs GG:OR=1.03, 95%CI=0.91-1.15, pheterogeneity<001; P =0.656; C vs G:OR=1.24, 95%CI=1.14-1.25,pheterogeneity<001; P <001). Subgroup analysis showed that in patients with “solid tumors”, heterogeneitywas very large (OR=0.94,95%CI=0.83-1.06,pheterogeneity=0.044; p=0.297). Within “non-solid tumors”, theassociation became even stronger (OR=6.62, 95 % CI=4.32-10.14, pheterogeneity<0.001; p <0.001).
Conclusions:This study suggested that MIF −173G/C gene polymorphism may increase increase cancer in the Chinesepopulation.Furthermore, more larger sample and representative population-based casees and well-matchedcontrols are needed to validate our results.