Four common vascular endothelial growth factor polymorphisms (-2578C>A, -460C>T, +936C>T, and +405G>C) in susceptibility to lung cancer: a meta-analysis

• Published in: PloS one 2013-10, Vol.8 (10), p.e75123-e75123
• Main Authors: Lin, Ling, Cao, Kejian, Chen, Wenhu, Pan, Xufeng, Zhao, Heng
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Adenocarcinoma; Analysis; Angiogenesis; Breast cancer; Cancer; Cancer genetics; Cancer research; Colorectal cancer; Confidence intervals; Development and progression; Diabetes; Diabetic retinopathy; Disease susceptibility; Gastric cancer; Gene expression; Genes; Genetic aspects; Genetic polymorphisms; Genetic Predisposition to Disease - genetics; Health aspects; Health risks; Humans; Identification methods; Initiators; Lung cancer; Lung carcinoma; Lung diseases; Lung Neoplasms - genetics; Malignancy; Medical prognosis; Medicine; Meta-analysis; Minority & ethnic groups; Patients; Permeability; Polymorphism; Polymorphism, Single Nucleotide - genetics; Regulators; Risk; Smoking; Squamous cell carcinoma; Stomach cancer; Studies; Surgery; Thoracic surgery; Tumors; Vascular endothelial growth factor; Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor A - genetics
• ISSN: 1932-6203; 1932-6203
• DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0075123

Vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) is one of the key initiators and regulators of angiogenesis and it plays a vital role in the onset and development of malignancy. The association between VEGF gene polymorphisms and lung cancer risk has been extensively studied in recent years, but currently available results remain controversial or ambiguous. The aim of this meta-analysis is to investigate the associations between four common VEGF polymorphisms (i.e., -2578C>A, -460C>T, +936C>T and +405C>G) and lung cancer risk. A comprehensive search was conducted to identify all eligible studies to estimate the association between VEGF polymorphisms and lung cancer risk. Crude odds ratios (ORs) with 95% confidence intervals (CIs) were used to evaluate the strength of this association. A total of 14 published case-control studies with 4,664 cases and 4,571 control subjects were identified. Our meta-analysis provides strong evidence that VEGF -2578C>A polymorphism is capable of increasing lung cancer susceptibility, especially among smokers and lung squamous cell carcinoma (SCC) patients. Additionally, for +936C>T polymorphism, increased lung cancer susceptibility was only observed among lung adenocarcinoma patients. In contrast, VEGF -460C>T polymorphism may be a protective factor among nonsmokers and SCC patients. Nevertheless, we did not find any association between +405C>G polymorphism and lung cancer risk, even when the groups were stratified by ethnicity, smoking status or histological type. This meta-analysis recommends more investigations into the relationship between -2578C>A and -460C>T lung cancer risks. More detailed and well-designed studies should be conducted to identify the causal variants and the underlying mechanisms of the possible associations.