[Vascular endothelial growth factor gene polymorphisms and the risk of endometriosis: a systematic review]

To analyze the potential association between the single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNP) of the vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) gene with the risk of endometriosis by meta-analysis.

Published case-control studies about the influence of VEGF polymorphisms on endometriosis were searched and screened in Medline, the Cochrane library, China National Knowledge Internet (CNKI), Chinese Biological Medicine Disk (CBM), data base of Wanfang and Foreign Medical Journal Full-Text Service (FMJS). RevMan 5.0 software was used for meta-analysis.

Finally, there were 9 literatures including 1610 endometrisis patients and 1643 controls cases, which were eligible for the criteria to investigating the VEGF SNP about -460C/T, +405C/G and +936C/T. The results of meta-analysis showed that there was no evidence for association between endometriosis and the VEGF -460C/T SNP in the genotype or allele frequencies distribution (P > 0.05). Significant differences were found between the frequencies distribution of VEGF +405CC genotype (P = 0.009, OR = 1.45, 95%CI: 1.10 - 1.91) and +405C allele (P = 0.020, OR = 1.19, 95%CI: 1.03 - 1.38), also between the +936CC genotype (P = 0.050, OR = 0.81, 95%CI: 0.66 - 1.00) and +936T allele (P = 0.040, OR = 1.20, 95%CI: 1.01 - 1.43).

The VEGF +405C/G and +936C/T SNP may be associated with the risk of endometriosis. Women carrying the +405C or the +936T allele could significantly increase the risk of developing endometriosis.