No association between HMGB1 polymorphisms and cancer risk: Evidence from a Meta-analysis.

PURPOSE: The aim of the present study was to determine whether High mobility group box 1 (HMGB1) polymorphism was associated with cancer susceptibility.  Methods: PubMed, EMBASE and ISI Web of Science were extensively searched without language restriction. Data was extracted using a standardized data collection sheet after two reviewers scanning studies independently. The association between HMGB1 polymorphism and cancer risks was indicated as odds ratio (OR) along with its related 95% confidence interval (95%CI). Meta-analysis was conducted via RevMan 5.3 software. RESULTS: A total of 10 studies comprising 4530 cases and 5167 controls were included in our study. Meta-analysis revealed no statistical association between rs1045411 , rs1360485 , rs1412125 or rs2249825 polymorphisms in HMGB1 gene and risk of cancer, either did subgroup analysis of rs1045411 stratified by cancer types and ethnic groups. CONCLUSION: Our results revealed no statistical association between current 4 polymorphism loci and cancer risks, suggesting that the attempt of applying HMGB1 variants as a therapeutic target or a prognosis predictor might still require a second thought. However, HMGB1 is deemed to play pleiotropic roles in cancers, we strongly call for large-scale studies with high evidence level to uncover the exact relationship between HMGB1 gene variants and cancer progression.