miR-146a gene polymorphism rs2910164 and the risk of digestive tumors: A meta-analysis of 21 case-control studies.

Digestive tumors have the highest incidence among all tumor types worldwide. miR-146a has been shown to play an important role in the development, apoptosis, invasion and metastasis of digestive tumors. Additionally, a miR-146a gene polymorphism has been associated with the risk of a variety of cancer types in the digestive system. Therefore, in order to investigate the correlation, a meta-analysis of reported data was conducted, for which we obtained 21 research studies concerning the association between the miR-146a gene polymorphism and digestive tumors. Odds ratio (OR) values and 95% confidence intervals (95% CI) were used to assess this association. We found that the miR-146a polymorphism rs2910164 might significantly increase the susceptibility of digestive tumors, in particular for esophageal cancer and colorectal cancers. Furthermore, the miR-146a polymorphism might significantly increase the risk of digestive tumors in Asians. However, no obvious correlation between the polymorphism and the risk for digestive tumors was found in Caucasians.