Current evidences on vascular endothelial growth factor polymorphisms and breast cancer susceptibility

Several polymorphisms of vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) such as 936 C/T, -2578 C/A, -406 C/T, and -1154 G/A polymorphism have been identified. Published data on the association between VEGF polymorphisms and breast cancer risk are inconclusive. To derive a more precise estimation of the relationship, a meta-analysis was performed. Crude OR with 95% CI was used to assess the strength of association between them. For VEGF 936C/T polymorphism, a total of 10 studies including 7,685 cases and 7,915 controls were involved in this meta-analysis. Overall, no significant associations were found between VEGF 936C/T polymorphism and breast cancer risk when all studies pooled into the meta-analysis (TC vs. CC: OR = 0.904, 95% CI = 0.797-1.024; TT vs. CC: OR = 0.974, 95% CI = 0.786-1.205; dominant model: OR = 0.911, 95% CI = 0.811-1.024; and recessive model: OR = 0.991, 95% CI = 0.801-1.226). In the subgroup analysis by ethnicity, still no significant associations were found for all comparison models. For -2578 C/A, -406 C/T, and -1154 G/A polymorphism, there were too limited data to perform a meta-analysis. In conclusion, this meta-analysis suggests that the VEGF 936C/T polymorphism may be not associated with breast cancer development. However, large sample and representative population-based studies with homogeneous breast cancer patients and well matched controls are warranted to confirm this finding.