Current evidence on the relationship between three polymorphisms in the XRCC7 gene and cancer risk

Inconsistency of the association of polymorphisms of XRCC7 with cancer is noted. Three commonly studied XRCC7 polymorphisms including rs7003908 (T>G), rs7830743 (A>G), and rs10109984 (T>C) were selected to explore their association with risk of development of cancer by meta-analysis of published case–control studies. The results showed that no significant associations with cancer risk were found in any model in terms of rs7003908, rs7830743 and rs10109984 when all studies were pooled into the meta-analysis. But when stratified by cancer type, statistically significantly elevated cancer risk was only found in prostate cancer for rs7003908 (GG vs. TT: OR = 1.845, 95 % CI = 1.178–2.888; dominant model: OR = 1.423, 95 % CI = 1.050–1.929; recessive model: OR = 1.677, 95 % CI = 1.133–2.482). In the subgroup analysis by ethnicity or study design, no significantly increased risks were found for all three polymorphisms. This meta-analysis suggests that XRCC7 rs7003908 polymorphism may contribute to cancer susceptibility for prostate cancer, which is recommended to be included in future large-sample studies and functional assays.