X-ray repair cross-complementing group 1 polymorphisms and hepatocellular carcinoma: a meta-analysis

To perform a systematic meta-analysis to investigate the association between X-ray repair cross-complementing group 1 (XRCC1) polymorphisms and hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) risk.

Relevant studies extracted from PubMed, Embase, Wanfang, VIP and the Chinese National Knowledge Infrastructure databases up to March 2012 were included in the study. Stata software, version 11.0, was used for the statistical analysis. The odds ratios (ORs) and 95% confidence interval (CI) of the XRCC1 polymorphisms in HCC patients were analyzed and compared with healthy controls. The meta-analysis was performed using fixed-effect or random-effect methods, depending on the absence or presence of significant heterogeneity.

Eleven studies with 2075 HCC cases and 2604 controls met our eligibility criteria (four studies, 888 cases and 938 controls for Arg194Trp, four studies, 858 cases and 880 controls for Arg280His, and nine studies, 1845 cases and 2401 controls for Arg399Gln). The meta-analysis revealed no associations between the Arg194Trp and Arg399Gln polymorphisms of the XRCC1 gene and HCC risk under all contrast models (codominant, dominant and recessive models) in the overall analysis and sensitivity analysis (the studies with controls not in the Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium were excluded). For XRCC1 Arg280His polymorphism, the overall analysis revealed the significant association between the His/His genotype and the increased risk of HCC (His/His vs Arg/Arg model, OR: 1.96, 95% CI: 1.03-3.75, P = 0.04). However, sensitivity analysis showed an altered pattern of result and non-significant association (OR: 2.06, 95% CI: 0.67-6.25, P = 0.20). The heterogeneity hypothesis test did not reveal any heterogeneity, and Begg's and Egger's tests did not find any obvious publication bias.

The XRCC1 Arg194Trp and Arg399Gln polymorphisms are not associated with HCC risk. More rigorous association studies are needed to verify the involvement of XRCC1 Arg280His polymorphism in HCC susceptibility.