The role of CD14 159C/T polymorphism in susceptibility of cancers

CD14 (cluster of differentiation 14), a kind of lipopolysaccharide (LPS) receptor, plays an important role in the innate immune system. Up to now, accumulating studies have reported the association between CD14-159C/T polymorphism and susceptibility of cancers, with divergent results. We thus conducted this meta-analysis to demonstrate the possible association between CD14-159C/T polymorphism and cancer risk. All eligible case control studies were identified by searching PubMed, Embase and CNKI database up to November 2017. Pooled odds ratio (OR) was used to access the strength of association. Subgroup analysis was also conducted based on cancer type, ethnicity and language. Statistical analyses were performed by using STATA 12.0 software. A total of 21 case-control studies involving 11241 participants (4136 cases and 7105 controls) were included in the current meta-analysis. The result indicated that the T allele of CD14-159C/T polymorphism did not confer risk for overall cancers (TT + CT vs. CC: OR = 0.98, 95% CI = 0.83-1.16, P = 0.81; TT vs. CT + CC: OR = 1.13, 95% CI = 0.87-1.46, P = 0.37). However, a subgroup analysis by cancer type indicated the CD14-159C/T polymorphism was significantly correlated with acute lymphoblastic leukemia (TT vs. CT + CC: OR = 1.80, 95% CI = 1.37-2.38, P < 0.001; C vs. T: OR = 0.81, 95% CI = 0.67-0.98, P = 0.03) and prostate cancer (TT vs. CC: OR = 0.62, 95% CI = 0.39-0.99, P = 0.04). Nevertheless, we failed to detect any relationship in the subgroup analysis by ethnicity and language. This meta-analysis suggested that CD14-159C/T polymorphism may be associated with acute lymphoblastic leukemia and prostate cancer, but no significant relationship was found between CD14-159C/T polymorphism and overall cancer. Further well-designed studies with lager sample size on different cancer types and ethnicities are needed.