Association between Fas/FasL polymorphism and susceptibility to leukemia: a meta-analysis

The polymorphisms in Fas/FasL system were proposed to be associated with susceptibility to leukemia, but recent studies reported controversial findings. Hence, we performed a meta-analysis to assess the association between Fas gene polymorphisms and susceptibility to leukemia. We carried out a literature search in PubMed, Embase, Web of Science and CNKI databases for studies on the associations between Fas/FasL gene polymorphisms and susceptibility to leukemia. The associations were assessed by odds ratio (OR) together with its 95% confidence intervals (CIs). 7 literatures and 14 studies with a total of 8787 subjects were eventually included into our meta-analysis. Overall, there was no association between Fas/FasL polymorphisms and susceptibility to leukemia. In subgroup analysis by ethnicity, there was also no association between Fas/FasL polymorphisms and susceptibility to leukemia in Asians and Caucasians. In addition, there was also a significant association between Fas-1377G/A polymorphism and susceptibility to leukemia in ALL patients, the A allele seemed to be a protective factor in ALL risk. In summary, more studies with large sample size are needed to provide further evidence for association between Fas/FasL polymorphisms and susceptibility to leukemia.