Association between FGFR2 (rs2981582, rs2420946 and rs2981578) polymorphism and breast cancer susceptibility: a meta-analysis

Abstract

The association between fibroblast growth factor receptor 2 (FGFR2) polymorphism and breast cancer (BC) susceptibility remains inconclusive. The purpose of this systematic review was to evaluate the relationship between FGFR2 (rs2981582, rs2420946 and rs2981578) polymorphism and BC risk. PubMed, Web of science and the Cochrane Library databases were searched before October 11, 2015 to identify relevant studies. Odds ratios (ORs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) were used to estimate the strength of associations. Sensitivity and subgroup analyses were conducted. Thirty-five studies published from 2007 to 2015 were included in this meta-analysis. The pooled results showed that there was significant association between all the 3 variants and BC risk in any genetic model. Subgroup analysis was performed on rs2981582 and rs2420946 by ethnicity and Source of controls, the effects remained in Asians, Caucasians, population-based and hospital-based groups. We did not carryout subgroup analysis on rs2981578 for the variant included only 3 articles. This meta-analysis of case-control studies provides strong evidence that FGFR2 (rs2981582, rs2420946 and rs2981578) polymorphisms were significantly associated with the BC risk. For rs2981582 and rs2420946, the association remained significant in Asians, Caucasians, general populations and hospital populations. However, further large scale multicenter epidemiological studies are warranted to confirm this finding and the molecular mechanism for the association need to be elucidated further.

Keywords: FGFR2; breast cancer; polymorphism.

Figure 1. Flow chart of studies selection in this meta-analysis

Figure 2. Forest plots of rs2981582 (C>T) polymorphism and breast cancer risk stratified by ethnicity (Recessive model TT vs. CC + TC)

Figure 3. Forest plots of rs2981582 (C>T) polymorphism and breast cancer risk stratified by Source of controls (Recessive model TT vs. CC + TC)

Figure 4. Forest plots of rs2420946 (C>T) polymorphism and breast cancer risk stratified by ethnicity (Dominant model TC + TT vs. CC)

Figure 5. Forest plots of rs2420946 (C>T) polymorphism and breast cancer risk stratified by Source of controls (Dominant model TC + TT vs. CC)

Figure 6. Forest plots of rs2981578 (A>G) polymorphism and breast cancer risk (Allele model G vs. A)

Figure 7. Funnel plot assessing evidence of publication bias

A. rs2981582 (C>T) (Recessive model TT vs. CC + TC). B. rs2420946 (C>T) (Dominant model TC + TT vs. CC). C. rs2981578 (A>G) (Allele model G vs. A). SE: standard error; OR: odds ratio.