Association of miR-27a polymorphism with the risk of digestive system cancers

Cancer of the digestive system is a common cancer and results in high mortality rates world-wide. miR-27a polymorphism has been associated with an increased risk of digestive system cancers; however, this has not been conclusively shown yet. Therefore, to clarify this, we conducted a comprehensive meta-analysis.

PubMed, EMBASE, OVID and Cochrane Library databases were comprehensively searched to retrieve eligible studies published up to May 10, 2020 that referred to digestive cancers. Odds ratios and the corresponding 95 % confidence intervals (CI) were used when calculating the relationship between miR-27a rs895819 polymorphism and susceptibility to digestive cancers.

A significant correlation between the miR-27a rs895819 polymorphism and the presence of digestive system cancers was found in four genetic models, which were the homozygote, dominant, recessive, and allele genetic models (GG vs AA: OR = 1.210, 95 %CI = 1.020-1.436, P = 0.029; GG + AG vs AA: OR = 1.092, 95 %CI = 1.024-1.164, P = 0.007; GG vs AG + AA: OR = 1.182, 95 %CI = 1.005-1.390, P = 0.044; G vs A: OR = 1.099, 95 %CI = 1.046-1.154, P < 0.001). Hierarchical analysis by ethnicity suggested that miR-27a rs895819 significantly increased the risk of digestive system cancers in the Asian population, but not in Caucasians. Additionally, rs895819 polymorphism was found to be significantly associated with colorectal cancer and gastric cancer.

The miR-27a rs895819 polymorphism may be associated with an increased risk for digestive system cancers.