Hsa-miR-499 polymorphism (rs3746444) and cancer risk: A meta-analysis of 17 case-control studies

Introduction: MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are a family of endogenous, small and noncoding RNAs that negatively regulate gene expression by suppressing translation or degrading mRNAs. Recently, many studies investigated the association between hsa-miR-499 rs3746444 polymorphism and cancer risk, which showed inconclusive results. Methodology/main results: We conducted a meta-analysis of 17 studies that included 7842 cancer cases and 8989 case-free controls and assessed the strength of the association, using odds ratios (ORs) with 95% confidence intervals (CIs). Overall, hsa-miR-499 rs3746444 polymorphism was associated with higher cancer risk in heterozygote model (AG vs AA, OR = 1.15, 95%CI = 1.01-130, P-heterogeneity<0.001), dominant genetic model (GG/AG vs AA, OR = 1.18,95% CI = 1.04-133, P-heterogeneity<0.001) and allele contrast (G vs A, OR = 1.09,95% CI = 1.01-1.18, P-heterogeneity= 0.021). In the stratified analyses, we observed that the GG/AG genotype might modulate breast cancer risk (OR = 1.13, 95% CI = 1.01-1.26, P-heterogeneity= 0.111) comparing with the AA genotype. Moreover, a significantly increased risk was found among Asian populations in heterozygote model (AG vs AA, OR= 123, 95% Cl = 1.06-1.43, P-heterogeneity<0.001), homozygote model (GG vs AA, OR= 122, 95% CI = 1.02-1.46, P-heterogeneity 0319), dominant model (GG/AG vs AA, OR = 1.25, 95% CI = 1.06439, P-heterogeneity<0.001) and allele contrast (G vs A, OR= 1.14, 95% Cl = 1.04-125, P-heterogeneity= 0.021). Conclusions: These findings supported that hsa-miR-499 rs3746444 polymorphism contributes to the susceptibility of cancers. (C) 2012 Published by Elsevier B.V.