Relationship between the prohibitin 3' untranslated region C > T gene polymorphism and cancer susceptibility--results of a meta-analysis.

OBJECTIVE The results from the published studies on the association between prohibitin 3' untranslated region C > T gene polymorphism and cancer risk are conflicting. This meta-analysis was performed to evaluate the relationship with cancer susceptibility overall, and to explore whether the T allele or TT genotype could become a predictive marker for cancer risk. METHODS Association studies were identified from the databases of PubMed, Embase, and Cochrane Library as of March 1, 2012, and eligible investigations were synthesized using the meta-analysis method. Results were expressed with odds ratios (OR) for dichotomous data, and 95% confidence intervals (CI) were also calculated. RESULTS Six investigations were identified for the analysis of association between the prohibitin 3' untranslated region C > T gene polymorphism and cancer risk, covering of 1,461 patients with cancer and 1,197 controls. There was a positive association between the T allele and cancer susceptibility (OR=1.20, 95% CI: 1.03-1.39, P=0.02), and CC homozygous might play a protective role (OR=0.80, 95% CI: 0.68-6.11, P=0.95). In the sub-group analysis, prohibitin 3' untranslated region C > T gene polymorphism and cancer risk appeared associated with the risk of breast cancer, but not ovarian cancer. CONCLUSIONS Our results indicate that T allele is a significant genetic molecular marker to predict cancer susceptibility and CC genotype is protective, especially for breast cancer. However, more investigations are required to further clarify the association of the prohibitin 3' untranslated region C > T gene polymorphism with cancer susceptibility.