No association between three polymorphisms (rs1800629, rs361525 and rs1799724) in the tumor necrosis factor-α gene and susceptibility to prostate cancer: a comprehensive meta-analysis

BACKGROUND: Inflammation is one of the factors associated with prostate cancer. The cytokine tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-α) plays an important role in inflammation. Several studies have focused on the association between TNF-α polymorphisms and prostate cancer development. Our meta-analysis aimed to estimate the association between TNF-α rs1800629 (− 308 G/A), rs361525 (− 238 G/A) and rs1799724 polymorphisms and prostate cancer risk. METHODS: Eligible studies were identified from electronic databases (PubMed, Embase, Wanfang and CNKI) using keywords: TNF-α, polymorphism, prostate cancer, until Nov 15, 2019. Odds ratios (ORs) with 95% confidence intervals (CIs) were applied to determine the association from a quantitative point-of-view. Publication bias and sensitivity analysis were also applied to evaluate the power of current study. All statistical analyses were done with Stata 11.0 software. RESULTS: Twenty-two different articles were included (22 studies about rs1800629; 8 studies for rs361525 and 5 studies related to rs1799724). Overall, no significant association was found between rs1800629 and rs1799724 polymorphisms and the risk of prostate cancer in the whole (such as: OR = 1.03, 95% CI = 0.92–1.16, P = 0.580 in the allele for rs1800629; OR = 0.95, 95% CI = 0.84–1.07, P = 0.381 in the allele for rs1799724). The rs361525 polymorphism also had no association with prostate cancer in the cases (OR = 0.93, 95% CI = 0.66–1.32, P = 0.684 in the allele) and ethnicity subgroup. The stratified subgroup of genotype method, however, revealed that the rs361525 variant significantly decreased the risk of prostate cancer in the Others (OR = 0.65, 95% CI = 0.47–0.89, P = 0.008, A-allele vs G-allele) and PCR-RFLP (OR = 2.68, 95% CI = 1.00–7.20, P = 0.050, AG vs GG or AA+AG vs GG) methods. CONCLUSIONS: In summary, the findings of the current meta-analysis indicate that the TNF-α rs1800629, rs361525 and rs1799724 polymorphisms are not correlated with prostate cancer development, although there were some pooled positive results. Further well-designed studies are necessary to form more precise conclusions.