TGF-β1 29T/C polymorphism and breast cancer risk: a meta-analysis involving 25,996 subjects

Transforming growth factor β1 (TGF-β1) is a cytokine, playing an important role in controlling cell proliferation and differentiation involved in breast cancer. It was reported the 29T/C polymorphism in TGF-β1 has been implicated in breast cancer risk. However, studies on the association between this polymorphism and breast cancer remain conflicting. To derive a more precise estimation of the relationship, a meta-analysis of 10,341 cases and 15,655 controls from fifty published case-control studies was performed. Our analysis suggested that 29T/C has no association with a trend of breast cancer risk when using both dominant [odds ratio (OR) = 1.01, 95% confidence intervals (CI) 0.96-1.07] and recessive models (OR = 0.98, 95% CI 0.89-1.08) to analyze the data. In ethnic subgroups analysis, 29T/C also did not appear to be risk factors for breast cancer. However, larger scale primary studies are required to further evaluate the interaction of TGF-β1 29T/C polymorphism and breast cancer risk in specific populations.