Significant association between functional microRNA polymorphisms and coronary heart disease susceptibility: a comprehensive meta-analysis involving 16484 subjects

Molecular epidemiological studies suggest that microRNA polymorphisms may be associated with an increased risk of coronary heart disease (CHD). However, the results of these studies were inconsistent and inconclusive. To derive a more precise evaluation, we performed a meta-analysis focused on the associations between microRNA polymorphisms and CHD risk. PubMed, Embase, CNKI and Wanfang databases were searched. Odds ratios (ORs) with 95% confidence intervals (CIs) were applied to assess the association between microRNA-146a rs2910164, microRNA-196a2 rs11614913, microRNA-499 rs3746444 and microRNA-149 rs71428439 polymorphisms and CHD susceptibility. Heterogeneity, publication bias and sensitivity analysis were conducted to measure the robustness of our findings. A total of thirteen related studies involving 8,120 patients and 8,364 controls were analyzed. Significant associations between microRNA-146a rs2910164 polymorphism and CHD risk were observed in the total population, as well as in subgroup analysis. For microRNA-196a2 rs11614913 and microRNA-499 rs3746444, similarly increased risks were also found. In addition, no significant association was detected between microRNA-149 rs71428439 polymorphism and CHD risk. In conclusion, our meta-analyses suggest that microRNA polymorphisms may be associated with increased risk of CHD development.