XRCC3 Thr241Met polymorphism and ovarian cancer risk: a meta-analysis

Genetic polymorphism of X-ray repair crosscomplementing group 3 (XRCC3) Thr241Met has been implicated to alter the risk of ovarian cancer, but the results are controversial. In order to get a more precise result, a meta-analysis was performed. All eligible studies were identified through an extensive search in PubMed, Excerpta Medica Database (Embase), Chinese National Knowledge Infrastructure database, and Chinese Biomedical Literature Database before August 2013. The association between the XRCC3 Thr241Met polymorphism and ovarian cancer risk was conducted by odds ratios (ORs) and 95 % confidence intervals (95 % CIs). Finally, a total of four publications including seven studies with 3,635 cases and 5,473 controls were included in our meta-analysis. Overall, there was no association between XRCC3 Thr241Met polymorphism and risk of ovarian cancer under all five genetic models in overall population (T vs. C: OR = 0.99, 95 % CI = 0.960–1.03, P = 0.752; TT vs. CC: OR = 1.00, 95 % CI = 0.91–1.10, P = 0.943; TC vs. TT: OR = 0.97, 95 % CI = 0.92–1.04, P = 0.396, Fig. 1; TT vs. TC/CC: OR = 1.00, 95 % CI = 0.91–1.12, P = 0.874; TT/TC vs. CC: OR = 0.98, 95 % CI = 0.94–1.03, P = 0.486). In the subgroup analysis according to ethnicity, the results suggested that XRCC3 Thr241Met polymorphism was not associated with the risk of ovarian cancer in Caucasians population. No significant association was found between the XRCC3 Thr241 Met polymorphism and the risk of ovarian cancer. Given the limited sample size and ethnicities included in the meta-analysis, further large scaled and well-designed studies are needed to confirm our results.