Association of the IL-13 polymorphisms rs1800925 and rs20541 with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease risk: An updated meta-analysis

The aim of this study was to investigate if 2 common single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in the interleukin-13 (IL-13) gene, rs1800925 and rs20541 are associated with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) risk. Case–control association studies were retrieved systematically from PubMed, Scopus, ISI Web of Science, China National Knowledge Infrastructure, and Wanfang databases using standardized subject terms. Eleven studies including 3077 participants (1896 cases and 1181 controls) were analyzed. Evidence for a positive association between the T allele of the IL-13 SNP rs1800925 and COPD risk was found in the overall population (odds ratio [OR] = 1.57, 95% confidence interval [95% CI]: 1.21–2.04, P(z) = .001). In subgroup analysis according to ethnicity, the T allele of rs1800925 was associated with an increased risk of COPD in Asians (OR = 1.88, 95% CI: 1.23–2.87, P(z) = .004) and Caucasians (OR = 1.30, 95% CI: 1.01–1.67, P(z) = .041), respectively. For rs20541, the results suggested an association between rs20541 and COPD risk in Caucasians under the recessive model (OR = 2.79, 95% CI: 1.13–6.92, P(z) = .026), whereas this SNP was not associated with COPD in Asians. This meta-analysis suggests that the T allele of rs1800925 is associated with the increased risk of COPD in both Asians and Caucasians, whereas rs20541 is associated with the risk of COPD in Caucasians but not in Asians.