Associations between tumor necrosis factor alpha gene polymorphism and sarcoidosis: a meta-analysis.

Published studies regarding the association between tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNF-α) gene polymorphism and sarcoidosis risk are inconsistent. In order to clarify this association, we performed a meta-analysis of case-control studies with available data. PubMed, EMBASE and BIOSIS Previews were comprehensively searched to identify relevant studies. Twelve case-control studies in 11 articles involving 3,218 participants were included in the meta-analysis to assess the association between TNF-α gene polymorphism and susceptibility to sarcoidosis. We estimated the pooled odds ratio (OR) with its 95% confidence intervals (95% CI) to explore the potential association. Our meta-analysis results suggested that TNF-α-308G/A AA/AG genotype increased sarcoidosis risk, in Asian and Caucasian ethnicity, and in sarcoidosis with Löfgren syndrome. No association was found between TNF-α-238G/A, TNF-α-857C/T polymorphism and sarcoidosis risk. In conclusion, our meta-analysis indicated that AG/GG genotype of TNF-α-308G/A are associated with increased sarcoidosis risk.