Lack of Association of the Cyclooxygenase-2 Gene 8473T>C Polymorphism with Breast Cancer Risk: a Meta-analysis

Abstract

<b>Background:</b> Associations between the 8473T>C polymorphism (rs5275) in the cyclooxygenase-2 (COX-2)gene and breast cancer (BC) risk are still inconclusive and ambiguous. The aim of this meta-analysis was tocomprehensively estimate the genetic risk of 8473T>C polymorphism in the COX-2 gene for BC. Materials and<br/><b>Methods</b>: We searched PubMed, Web of Science, Medline, Chinese biomedical (CBM), Weipu, China nationalknowledge infrastructure (CNKI), and Wanfang databases, covering all publications (last search was updated onAug 17, 2014). Statistical analyses were performed using Revman 5.3 and STATA 10.0 software. <br/><b>Results</b>: A totalof 6,720 cases and 9,794 controls in 12 studies were included in this study. The results indicated no significantassociations between the 8473T>C polymorphism of the COX-2 gene and BC risk for the CC+TC vs TT model(pooled odds ratio (OR)=0.97, 95% confidence interval (CI)=0.90-1.03, and p=0.29). On subgroup analysis, wealso found that subdivision on ethnicity among Caucasians, Asians and others also revealed no relationshipwith BC susceptibility. With the study design (CC+TC vs TT), no significant associations were found in eitherpopulation-based case-control studies (PCC), or hospital-based case-control studies (HCC). <br/><b>Conclusions</b>: Thispresent meta-analysis suggests that the 8473T>C polymorphism in the COX-2 gene is not a conspicuous lowpenetrantrisk factor for developing BC.