Association between HIF1A rs11549465 polymorphism and risk of prostate cancer: a meta-analysis

The hypoxia inducible factor 1-alpha (HIF1A) gene has been suggested to play a critical role in cancer progression, and the relationship between HIF1A rs11549465 polymorphism and risk of prostate cancer has been investigated in previous studies. Nevertheless, conflicting results have been obtained. Hence, we reevaluated this issue by means of this meta-analysis, with the purpose of providing more precise conclusion on this issue. The electronic databases of PubMed, EMBASE and Chinese National Knowledge Infrastructure (CNKI) as well as other sources were searched for relevant reports concerning on the role of HIF1A rs11549465 polymorphism in the occurrence of prostate cancer. The strength of the relationship was determined by calculating odds ratios (ORs) with corresponding 95% confidence intervals (95% CIs). Besides, subgroup analyses by ethnicity and source of control were further performed to examine this relationship. All statistical analyses were performed using STATA software 12.0. Although HIF1A rs11549465 polymorphism showed a tendency of increasing the risk of prostate cancer, no statistical significance was detected under any genetic models. Similar results were also revealed in subgroup analyses on the basis of ethnicity and control source. Our findings indicate that HIF1A rs11549465 polymorphism may not independently play a significant role in the occurrence of prostate cancer.