the association between gstm1, gstt1 genetic variants and gastric carcinoma susceptibility in chinese: a systematic re¬view article

background: glutathione s-transferases ( gsts ) have been investigated as potential carcinoma susceptible genes. however, the relationship between gsts ( gstm1 , gstt1 ) variants and gastric carcinoma (gc) risk has been controversial in chinese population. methods: a comprehensive literature search strategy (pubmed, chinese biomedical database, chinese national knowledge infrastructure, wan fang database, etc.) was launched. crude odds ratios (ors) and confidence intervals (95% ci) were applied to estimate the strength of the association. results: significant associations between gsts genetic polymorphisms and gc were evidenced under random-effects model (or gstm1 =1.56, 95% ci: 1.39 to 1.76, i 2 =50.7%, p <0.0001; or gstt1 =1.24, 95% ci: 1.10 to 1.39, i 2 =43.6%, p =0.014; or gstm1-gstt1 =1.51, 95% ci: 1.26 to 1.81, i 2 =59.7%, p =0.004). the pooled ors were not qualitatively changed when any single study was omitted by sensitivity analysis. conclusion: our results indicated an increased gc risk in chinese population with gstm1 and gstt1 null genotype and gstm1-gstt1 dual null genotype. further multi-center studies are needed to investigate the gene-gene and gene-environment interactions on the susceptibility of gc.