Association Between Three eNOS Polymorphisms and Cancer Risk: a Meta-analysis

Polymorphisms in the endothelial nitric oxide synthase (eNOS) gene may influence the risk of cancer, but the results are still debatable. Therefore, we performed a systematic review to provide a more complete picture and conducted a meta-analysis to derive a precise estimation. We searched PubMed, EMBASE, EBSCO, Google Scholar and China National Knowledge Infrastructure (CNKI) databases until April 2014 to identify eligible studies. Thirty-one studies with cancer patients and controls were included in the meta-analysis. Overall, the polled analysis revealed that the T-786C polymorphism was significantly associated with increased cancer risk under multiple genetic models (C vs T: OR=1.135, 95% CI=1.048-1.228; CC vs TT: OR=1.278, 95% CI=1.0451.562; TC vsTT: OR=1.136, 95% CI=1.023-1.261; CC+TC vs TT: OR=1.159, 95% CI=1.047-1.281; CC vs TC+TT: OR=1.204, 95% CI=1.003-1.447). G894T was associated with significant risk for females (TT vs GG: OR=1.414, 95% CI=1.056-1.892; TT vs GT+GG: OR=1.356, 95% CI=1.108-1.661) and for breast cancer (T vs G: OR=1.097, 95% CI=1.001-1.203; TT vs GG: OR=1.346, 95% CI=1.012-1.789; TT vs GT+GG: OR=1.269, 95% CI=1.028-1.566). Increased susceptibility was revealed for prostate cancer with 4a/b (ba vs bb: OR=1.338, 95% CI=1.013-1.768; aa+ba vs bb: OR=1.474, 95% CI=1.002-2.170). This meta-analysis indicated that the eNOS T-786C polymorphism is associated with elevated cancer risk; the G894T polymorphism contributes to susceptibility to breast cancer and cancer generally in females; and the 4a/b polymorphism may be associated with prostate cancer risk.