Association between methylenetetrahydrofolate reductase (MTHFR) polymorphisms and lung cancer risk in Chinese people: An updated meta-analysis

BACKGROUND: The association between Methylenetetrahydrofolate Reductase (MTHFR) polymorphisms and lung cancer risk in Chinese people has been widely explored; however, the results remain controversial. Thus, we conducted a meta-analysis to investigate the association between MTHFR gene polymorphisms and susceptibility to lung cancer in Chinese people. OBJECTIVE: We performed an updated meta-analysis to investigate the association between MTHFR gene polymorphisms and susceptibility to lung cancer in Chinese people. METHODS: PubMed, EMBASE, WANFANG database, and CNKI were searched to collect eligible articles. The associations of MTHFR gene polymorphism with lung cancer risk were evaluated by calculating the pooled odds ratios (ORs) and the 95% confidence interval (CI). The dominant, recessive, heterozygous, homozygous, and allelic genetic models were used to calculate the combined ORs. RESULTS: A total of 16 eligible studies were identified in the present meta-analysis. Evidence from the pooled results indicated a significant association between the MTHFR C677T polymorphism and lung cancer susceptibility in Chinese people under the dominant, recessive, homozygous and allelic genetic models (T vs C: OR = 1.252, 95% CI, 1.090–1.437; TT vs CC: OR = 1.741, 95% CI, 1.252–2.420. (TT + CT) vs CC: OR = 1.227, 95% CI, 1.030–1.426. TT vs (CT + CC): OR = 1.606, 95% CI, 1.207–2.137). CONCLUSION: The present updated meta-analysis demonstrated that the MTHFR C677T polymorphism was significantly associated with susceptibility to lung cancer in Chinese people. Additional case-control studies with large sample sizes are needed to validate our findings.