PLoS ONE (Jan 2012)

Epidermal growth factor gene polymorphism and risk of hepatocellular carcinoma: a meta-analysis.

  • Jian-Hong Zhong,
  • Xue-Mei You,
  • Wen-Feng Gong,
  • Liang Ma,
  • Yu Zhang,
  • Qin-Guo Mo,
  • Liu-Cheng Wu,
  • Jun Xiao,
  • Le-Qun Li

DOI
https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0032159
Journal volume & issue
Vol. 7, no. 3
p. e32159

Abstract

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BackgroundHepatocarcinogenesis is a complex process that may be influenced by many factors, including polymorphism in the epidermal growth factor (EGF) gene. Previous work suggests an association between the EGF 61*A/G polymorphism (rs4444903) and susceptibility to hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC), but the results have been inconsistent. Therefore, we performed a meta-analysis of several studies covering a large population to address this controversy.MethodsPubMed, EMBASE, Google Scholar and the Chinese National Knowledge Infrastructure databases were systematically searched to identify relevant studies. Data were abstracted independently by two reviewers. A meta-analysis was performed to examine the association between EGF 61*A/G polymorphism and susceptibility to HCC. Odds ratios (ORs) and 95% confidence intervals (95% CIs) were calculated.ResultsEight studies were chosen in this meta-analysis, involving 1,304 HCC cases (1135 Chinese, 44 Caucasian and 125 mixed) and 2,613 controls (1638 Chinese, 77 Caucasian and 898 mixed). The EGF 61*G allele was significantly associated with increased risk of HCC based on allelic contrast (OR = 1.29, 95% CI = 1.16-1.44, pConclusionThe 61*G polymorphism in EGF is a risk factor for hepatocarcinogenesis while the EGF 61*A allele is a protective factor. Further large and well-designed studies are needed to confirm this conclusion.