Functional IL-23R rs10889677 Genetic Polymorphism and Risk of Multiple Solid Tumors: a Meta-Analysis

Interleukin-23 receptor (IL23R) can interact with IL-23 and, thus, is involved in the T-helper 17 (Th17) cell-mediated inflammatory process as well as tumorigenesis. Recently, a functional single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) rs10889677 has been identified in the 3'-untranslated region of IL-23R. It has been showed that the rs10889677AC SNP could increase the binding affinity of microRNA let-7f and downregulate IL-23R expression. Several case-control studies have examined the association between this SNP and genetic susceptibility of multiple solid tumors. However, the conclusions are conflicting. Therefore, we conducted this meta-analysis to systematically study the role of this functional IL-23R SNP in development of multiple solid tumors. There are a total of 5 studies are eligible (6731 cases and 7296 healthy controls). Either fixed-effect model or random-effect model was used to calculate pooled odds ratios (ORs) and the 95% confidence interval (95% CI). Significant association between this functional rs10889677 genetic variant and risk of multiple solid tumors were observed (CC genotype vs. AA genotype: OR = 0.59, 95% CI = 0.53-0.66, P < 0.001). These findings demonstrated that the IL-23R rs10889677 genetic variant might play an important part during malignant transformation of multiple solid tumors.