Increased risk of developing lung cancer in Asian patients carrying the TERT rs2736098 G>A polymorphism: evidence from 3,354 cases and 3,518 controls

Abstract

Zhenhua Yang,1,* Xunlei Zhang,2,* Surong Fang,1 Yan Tan,1 Haijun Yan,1 Wei Gu,1 Jianhong Wang2 1Department of Pneumology, Nanjing First Hospital, Nanjing Medical University, Nanjing, 2Department of Medical Oncology, Nantong University Affiliated Tumor Hospital, Nantong, People’s Republic of China *These authors contributed equally to this work Background: The association between telomerase reverse transcriptase (TERT) rs2736098 G>A and risk of lung cancer (LC) remains inconclusive. To explore the association more precisely, we performed a comprehensive search and conducted a meta-analysis on all eligible case–control studies involving 3,354 cases and 3,518 controls.Methods: The 95% confidence interval (95% CI) and the pooled odds ratio (OR) were calculated using a random or fixed effect model. Publication bias, heterogeneity, and sensitivity analysis were also explored.Results: All studies were case–control studies on LC in patients of Asian descent, consisting of one Korean study and five Chinese studies. Overall, the variant A allele of TERT rs2736098 G>A was found to significantly increase the risk of LC in all genetic models (GA vs GG: OR =1.13, 95% CI =1.02–1.25, P=0.017; AA vs GG: OR =1.78, 95% CI =1.53–2.07, P<0.001;GA/AA vs GG: OR =1.25, 95% CI =1.14–1.38, P<0.001; AA vs GA/GG: OR =1.66, 95% CI =1.45–1.92, P<0.001). In the subgroup analysis, significant associations were found in Chinese group and hospital-based studies. Different genotype test methods showed no influence on the final results.Conclusion: Our study identified that TERT rs2736098 G>A polymorphism significantly increased the risk of LC in Asian populations. Keywords: genetic polymorphism, TERT, rs2736098 G>A, lung cancer, meta-analysis