Survivin rs9904341 polymorphism significantly increased the risk of cancer: evidence from an updated meta-analysis of case-control studies

Aims Survivin, a member of inhibitor of apoptosis protein family, is involved in the regulation of cell cycle and apoptosis. Several studies inspected the association between survivin polymorphisms and the risk of various cancers, but the findings remain controversial. We conducted a meta-analysis intending to certify the association between survivin polymorphisms and cancer risk. Methods All analyses were achieved using RevMan 5.3 software and STATA 14.1 software. Eligible studies were collected by comprehensive literature searching Web of Science, PubMed, Scopus, and Google scholar databases. Pooled estimates of odds ratios (ORs) with 95% confidence intervals (CIs) were used to assess the overall impact of survivin polymorphisms on cancer risk. Results The overall analysis indicates that survivin rs9904341 polymorphism significantly increased the risk of cancer in homozygous codominant (OR 1.41, 95% CI 1.19-1.68, p=0.0001, CC vs GG), dominant (OR 1.22, 95% CI 1.07-1.40, p=0.003, CG+CC vs GG), recessive (OR 1.34, 95% CI 1.18-1.52, p<0.0001, CC vs CG+GG), and allele (OR 1.20, 95% CI 1.09-1.31, p=0.0001, C vs G) inheritance models tested. Stratified based on ethnicity revealed that rs9904341 variant significantly increased the risk of cancer in the Asian population. The findings did not support an association between rs1042489, rs2071214, rs8073069, and rs17878467 polymorphisms and risk of cancer. Conclusions The current study suggests that the survivin rs9904341 polymorphism may be associated with the risk of cancer either overall or in the Asian population. However, further larger and well-designed studies are warranted to evaluate this association in detail.