miR-146a rs2910164 and hepatocellular carcinoma: a meta-analysis.

ABSTRACT

INTRODUCTION: Single nucleotide polymorphism in miRNAs can alter its expression, thus can lead to the development of cancers. Many studies have explored the association between miR-146a rs2910164 (G>C) polymorphism and hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) risk, but the results remains inconsistent. So, we performed this pooled analyses in order to get a precise result. EVIDENCE ACQUISITION Odds ratios (OR) with 95% confidence intervals (CI), calculated by STATA software, was used to determine whether miR-146a rs2910164 polymorphism contributes to the risk of HCC. A comprehensive literature search was conducted on PubMed, Embase, Web of Science, and China National Knowledge Infrastructure up to May 30, 2016. EVIDENCE SYNTHESIS: A total of 14 studies including 5921 cases and 7005 controls were included in this meta-analysis. When all the eligible studies were pooled into this meta-analysis, the miR-146a rs2910164 was associated with a decreased risk of hepatocellular carcinoma (OR=0.90; 95% CI=0.82-0.98, P=0.01, allele model). CONCLUSIONS: Our meta-analysis supports that the miR-146a rs2910164 polymorphism contributes to the risk of HCC from currently available evidence.