Association between p53 Arg72Pro polymorphism and thyroid cancer risk: a meta-analysis

The p53 is a tumor suppressor gene which may be involved in the development of thyroid cancer. Studies investigating the association between p53 Arg72Pro polymorphism and thyroid cancer risk reported conflicting results. The aim of the meta-analysis was to derive a more precise assessment of the association between p53 Arg72Pro polymorphism and thyroid cancer risk. A literature search of PubMed and Web of Science from their inception through March 2013 was conducted. Odds ratios (OR) with 95 % confidence intervals (95 % CI) were used to assess the strength of the association. Eight case-control studies were included with a total of 874 thyroid cancer cases and 1,891 controls. The meta-analysis results showed that the p53 Arg72Pro polymorphism was only associated with thyroid cancer risk under the recessive model (ProPro vs. ArgArg/ArgPro: OR = 1.83, 95 % CI 1.05-3.20, P = 0.034). However, there was no significant association between p53 Arg72Pro polymorphism and thyroid cancer risk under the other three genetic models (Pro vs. Arg: OR = 1.20, 95 % CI 0.87-1.67, P = 0.262; ProPro vs. ArgArg: OR = 1.75, 95 % CI 0.88-3.50, P = 0.113; ProPro/ArgPro vs. ArgArg: OR = 1.01, 95 % CI 0.66-1.55, P = 0.968). Subgroup by ethnicity showed that there was no significant association between p53 Arg72Pro polymorphism and thyroid cancer risk in both Caucasians and Asians. Thus, p53 Arg72Pro polymorphism may be associated with thyroid cancer risk, and ProPro genotype is likely to be a risk factor of thyroid cancer.