Host genetic susceptibility to oral cancer: evidence from meta-analyses and pooled analyses.

ABSTRACT

BACKGROUND: A large number of meta-analyses and pooled analyses have been published on the topic of the genetic variants for oral cancer, and many positive results have been identified; however, there might be some false-positive results. The aim of this study was to identify the 'true positive' (noteworthy) results using the method of false-positive report probability (FPRP). METHODS: The PubMed database, Embase database, CNKI database, and Wanfang database were searched to retrieve the meta-analyses, pooled analyses, and genome-wide association studies (GWAS), which addressed the associations between genetic polymorphisms and the risk of oral cancer. The significant associations were further analyzed using the method of FPRP. RESULTS: A total of 14 variants were identified from meta-analyses and pooled analyses, which concern the associations between oral cancer and genetic variants. Among these 14 variants, 9 variants were reported to be significantly associated with the risk of oral cancer (CYP1A1-MspI, CYP2E1-RsaI/PstI, MTHFR-C677T, p73-G4C14-to-A4T14, XRCC1-Arg194Trp, CYP1A1-Ile462Val, GSTM1-±, and NAT2 slow vs rapid). After assessing the results of FPRP, none of the nine statistically significant associations were noteworthy (true positive). In addition, no noteworthy results were identified from GWAS. CONCLUSIONS: In summary, this study found no noteworthy associations between variants and the risk of oral cancer. Further candidate genes associations studies should be performed to explore the etiology of oral cancer.