The Role of Polymorphisms in Genes of PI3K/Akt Signaling Pathway on Prostate

Background and Objective: Increasing evidence suggested that polymorphisms in genes of PI3K/Akt pathway were closely related to prostate cancer (PCa) risk. Nevertheless, these results are controversial and inconclusive. Here, we conducted a comprehensive updated meta-analysis and systematic review to precisely illustrate the association between polymorphisms in genes of PI3K/Akt signaling pathway and PCa risk. Materials and Methods: The gene set of PI3K/Akt pathway was referenced from the Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG) website. Relevant studies were identified by the systematically researching on PubMed, Web of Science and Google Scholar databases up to October 1, 2017. The odds ratios (ORs) with a corresponding 95% confidential intervals (95%CIs) were applied to test their associations. All the analyses were conducted by using Stata 12.0 (Stata Corporation, USA). Results: Finally, 38 articles comprising 62 case-control studies were enrolled for 13 polymorphisms in genes of PI3K/Akt pathway. However, overall results failed to present a positive association between polymorphisms in genes of PI3K/Akt pathway and PCa risk. Nevertheless, in the subgroup analysis by ethnicity, we identified that IL-6-rs1800795 polymorphism was associated with an increased risk of PCa for Caucasian individuals in dominant model (MM + MW vs. WW: OR = 1.245, 95%CI = 1.176-1.318, P < 0.001). Conclusion: Our work suggests that polymorphisms in genes of PI3K/Akt Signaling Pathway are not risk factor for PCa. Further well-designed studies with larger samples and precise designs are demanded to corroborate our findings.