Associations between FCGR polymorphisms and immune thrombocytopenia: A meta-analysis

Several studies already explored associations between Fc gamma receptor (FCGR) polymorphisms and immune thrombocytopenia (ITP), but the results of these studies were not consistent. Consequently, we conducted a meta-analysis of relevant studies to better analyse the effects of FCGR polymorphisms on individual susceptibility to ITP. PubMed, Web of Science, Embase and CNKI were searched for eligible studies. Odds ratios (ORs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) were calculated. Totally 17 studies were eligible for analyses (1200 cases and 1723 controls). Significant associations with ITP were observed for FCGR3A F158V polymorphism in dominant (P < 0.0001, OR = 0.47, 95% CI 0.39-0.57), recessive (P < 0.0001, OR = 2.03, 95% CI 1.58-2.61), overdominant (P < 0.0001, OR = 1.42, 95% CI 1.19-1.69) and allele (P < 0.0001, OR = 0.58, 95% CI 0.51-0.65) models in overall analyses. But we did not observe any significant associations with ITP for FCGR2A H131R and FCGR2B I232T polymorphisms in overall analyses. Subgroup analyses by ethnicity yielded similar positive results for FCGR3A F158V polymorphism in both Asians and Caucasians. Furthermore, subgroup analyses by type of disease revealed that FCGR2A H131R polymorphism was significantly associated with childhood-onset ITP, and FCGR3A F158V polymorphism was significantly associated with both childhood-onset and adult-onset ITP. In summary, our findings suggested that FCGR2A H131R polymorphism may serve as a potential genetic biomarker of childhood-onset ITP, while FCGR3A F158V polymorphism may serve as a potential genetic biomarker of both childhood-onset and adult-onset ITP.