Genetic associations between Transcription Factor 7 Like 2 rs7903146 polymorphism and type 2 diabetes mellitus: a meta-analysis of 115,809 subjects

BACKGROUND: Some genetic association studies tried to investigate potential associations of Transcription Factor 7 Like 2 (TCF7L2) rs7903146 polymorphism with type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM). However, the results of these studies were not consistent. Thus, we performed the present meta-analysis to explore associations between TCF7L2 rs7903146 polymorphism and T2DM in a larger pooled population. METHODS: Systematic literature research of PubMed, Web of Science and Embase was performed to identify eligible studies for pooled analyses. I(2) statistics were employed to assess between-study heterogeneities. If I(2) was greater than 50%, random-effect models (REMs) would be used to pool the data. Otherwise, fixed-effect models (FEMs) would be applied for synthetic analyses. RESULTS: Totally 68 studies with 115,809 subjects were included for analyses. The pooled analyses showed that TCF7L2 rs7903146 (dominant model: p < 0.0001; recessive model: p < 0.0001; over-dominant model: p < 0.0001; allele model: p < 0.0001) polymorphism was significantly associated with susceptibility to T2DM in overall population. Further subgroup analyses revealed similar significant findings in both Asians and Caucasians. CONCLUSIONS: In conclusion, our findings supported that TCF7L2 rs7903146 polymorphism could be used to identify individuals at high risk of developing T2DM in Asians and Caucasians. ELECTRONIC SUPPLEMENTARY MATERIAL: The online version of this article (10.1186/s13098-019-0451-9) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.