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Meta-Analysis
. 2014 Apr 25;9(4):e96125.
doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0096125. eCollection 2014.

Association between vitamin D receptor gene polymorphisms and breast cancer risk: a meta-analysis of 39 studies

Kai Zhang  1 , Lihua Song  2
Affiliations
Meta-Analysis

Association between vitamin D receptor gene polymorphisms and breast cancer risk: a meta-analysis of 39 studies

Kai Zhang et al. PLoS One. .

Abstract

Background: The associations between vitamin D receptor (VDR) gene polymorphisms and breast cancer risk were comprehensively investigated to clarify issues that remain controversial.

Methodology/principal findings: An electronic search was conducted of several databases, including PubMed, the Cochrane library, Web of Science, EMBASE, CBM and CNKI, for papers that describe the association between Fok1, poly-A repeat, Bsm1, Taq1 or Apa1 polymorphisms of the VDR gene and breast cancer risk. Summary odds ratios and 95% confidence intervals (CI) were estimated based on a fixed-effect model (FEM) or random-effect model (REM), depending on the absence or presence of significant heterogeneity. A total of 39 studies met the inclusion criteria. A meta-analysis of high-quality studies showed that the Fok1 polymorphism of the VDR gene was associated with an increased risk of breast cancer (ff vs. Ff+FF, OR: 1.09, 95%CI: 1.02 to 1.16, p = 0.007). No significant associations were observed between the other polymorphisms and breast cancer risk. No positive results were detected by pooling the results of all relevant studies.

Conclusion: A meta-analysis of high-quality studies demonstrated that the Fok1 polymorphism of the VDR gene was closely associated with breast cancer risk.

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Conflict of interest statement

Competing Interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1. Flow diagram of the literature search.
Figure 2
Figure 2. Forest plots of association of Fok1 polymorphism with breast cancer.
Significant association was detected between the genotype ff and breast cancer in recessive model (ff vs. Ff+FF). The squares and horizontal lines correspond to OR and 95% CI of specific study, and the area of squares reflects study weight. The diamond represents the pooled OR and 95% CI. Heterogeneity was checked by the chi square based Q test.
Figure 3
Figure 3. Begg’s funnel plot to examine publication bias for comparisons of Fok1 polymorphism (ff vs. Ff+FF).
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

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