Association between tumor necrosis factor-a gene polymorphisms and diffuse large B-cell lymphoma in Chinese Han population: evidence from two center case-control study and a meta-analysis

Objectives: The tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-alpha) gene, which plays crucial roles in tumorigenesis, is reported to be an independent marker for cancer. This study aims to examine the association between the TNF-alpha G308A polymorphism and DLBCL risk based on the two center case-control studies and meta-analysis. Methods: In the current study, we performed a two centers case-control study to investigate the effect of the TNF-alpha G308A polymorphism on DLBCL risk in Chinese Han population. A meta-analysis including 10 published datasets along with current dataset, including 111 comparisons containing 34,041 cases and 42,730 controls were enrolled, was next performed to further confirm the association after literature search was conducted and relevant studies were identified from PubMed, Embase, and Web of Science. Results: The TNF-alpha -308A allele was associated with a significantly increased DLBCL risk in the two independent patient case-control studies and additionally for pooled analysis from the two sets (P<0.05 for both). The result of meta-analysis further demonstrated that the A allele of -308A was significantly correlated with DLBCL risk under the allelic model (OR=1.35, 95% CI=1.27-1.44) without heterogeneity by fixed-effects model analysis (Q=17.30, P=0.139). Moreover, sensitivity analysis supported the robustness of this meta-analysis. Conclusion: This study suggested that -308A polymorphism may be associated with the susceptibility of DLBCL in a Chinese population. The further meta-analysis provides additional evidence supporting the above result that the risk allele of the -308A polymorphism may increase DLBCL risk.