P53 codon 72 polymorphism and colorectal cancer: a meta-analysis of epidemiological studies

Studies investigating the association between p53 codon 72 polymorphism and colorectal cancer risk report conflicting results. In order to clarify this, we carried out a meta-analysis using published data to obtain more precise estimates of risk.

Electronic searches of PubMed and EMBASE were conducted to select studies for this meta- analysis. The principal outcome measure was the odds ratio (OR) with 95% confidence interval (CI) for the risk of colorectal cancer associated with p53 codon 72 genotype.

We identified seven epidemiological studies, which included 1964 colorectal cancer cases and 2943 controls. The combined results based on all studies showed that there was no significant difference in genotype distribution [Arg/Arg (OR=0.86, 95% CI=0.68, 1.08); Pro/Pro (OR=1.27, 95% CI=0.96, 1.68); Pro/Arg (OR=1.04, 95% CI=0.92, 1.17)] between colorectal cancer and non-cancer patients. When stratifying for race, we found that patients with colorectal cancer had a significantly higher frequency of Pro/ Pro (OR=1.79, 95% CI=1.37, 2.35) and lower frequency of Arg/Arg (OR=0.66, 95% CI=0.44, 0.98) than controls among Asians. No statistical association was found between this genotype and alcohol, tobacco, stage, histological differentiation, lymph node metastasis of colorectal cancer.

Our meta-analysis suggests that the p53 codon 72 polymorphism may be associated with colorectal cancer among Asians.