Association between LMP2/LMP7 genetic variability and cancer susceptibility, especially among Asians: evidence from a meta-analysis

Low molecular mass protein (LMP) gene performs a critical role in the foreign antigen processing machine via the major histocompatibility complex-I (MHC-I) complex CD8+ cytotoxic T lymphocytes (CTL) pathway. Recent studies have reported the association of LMP2-60 G>A (rs17587) and LMP7-145 C>A (rs2071543) polymorphisms with various types of cancers, but the outcomes remained inconsistent. To obtain a reliable conclusion, we summarized available data and conducted a meta-analysis involving a total of 19 published studies. Evidences were obtained from the PubMed, Google Scholar, Web of Science and Chinese National Knowledge Infrastructure (CNKI) databases. The results demonstrated that the rs17587 and rs2071543 polymorphisms were associated with an increased cancer risk in the recessive and homozygote models. Stratified analyses by ethnicity indicated a significant association only in Asian population. Furthermore, rs17587 showed a greater susceptibility to gynecological cancers, while rs2071543 increased the risk of gastrointestinal and gynecological cancers. Our results indicate that the LMP2 rs17587 and LMP7 rs2071543 polymorphisms may act as risk factors for cancer, especially for Asian populations. Additional larger-scale multicenter studies should be performed to validate our results.