Associations between polymorphisms in the IL-4 and IL-4 receptor genes and urinary carcinomas: a meta-analysis

To evaluate the association between polymorphisms of interleukin-4 (IL-4) and IL-4 receptor (IL-4R) genes and risk of renal cell cancer (RCC), bladder cancer (BC), and prostate cancer (PC) based on meta-analysis. PubMed, Web of Science and SpecilalSCI(TM) were searched for studies published up to May 2014 that reported the association between IL-4 or IL-4R and RCC, BC or PC risk. Odds ratio (OR)/Hazard ratio (HR) and 95% confidence interval (CI) were analyzed to evaluate the association. Meta-analysis showed that the IL-4R polymorphism rs1805010 was associated with increased RCC risk (CC/CT vs. TT: OR=1.266, 95% CI 1.09-1.472, P=0.002). The IL-4 haplotypes, IL4-589T and IL4-33T, were associated with higher survival rate of the patients comparted with the haplotype IL-4-589C-33C (P<0.05). The IL-4 polymorphism rs2243250 was associated with an increased risk of developing multiple BCs (OR=2.52, P=0.033). The IL-4 polymorphisms rs2243228, rs2243250, and rs22272480 were significantly associated with PC risk (rs2243228 CC vs.

OR=0.27, 95% CI 0.09-0.84, P=0.03; rs2243350 TT vs.

OR=2.16, 95% CI 1.06-4.40, P=0.03, CC vs.

OR=1.31, 95% CI 1.05-1.65, P=0.02; rs2227284 TT vs.

OR=1.98, 95% CI 1.30-3.00, P=0.001). In addition, IL-4 polymorphism rs2070874 was associated with PC mortality. Three polymorphisms (rs2070874, rs1805015, and rs1801275) were not associated with RCC, BC, and PC. The IL-4R polymorphism rs1805015 might be associated with RCC risk. IL-4 rs2243250 carriers had increased risk of developing multiple BCs. IL-4 polymorphisms rs2243228, rs2243250, rs2227284, and rs2070874 were associated with PC risk or mortality.