OBJECTIVE The G-403A polymorphism in RANTES gene may be involved in the development of coronary artery disease (CAD) through increasing RANTES-mediated leukocyte trafficking and activation. However, studies investigating the relationship between G-403A polymorphism and CAD yielded contradictory and inconclusive results. In order to shed some light on these inconsistent findings, a meta analysis...

BACKGROUND The ICAM-1 +469 A/G polymorphism has been implicated in susceptibility to cancer, but the results were inconclusive. The present meta-analysis aimed to investigate the association between the ICAM-1 +469 A/G polymorphism and cancer risk. METHODS We searched PubMed, Embase to identify studies that evaluated the association between the ICAM-1 +469 A/G polymorphism and cancer risk. Da...

BACKGROUND A functional polymorphism in the uncoupling protein 2 (UCP2) gene promoter has been associated with obesity and type 2 diabetes (T2D) in some populations. The impact of UCP2 polymorphisms on diabetes and obesity is still under debate. Contradictory results have been reported in different populations world-wide. To clarify the contribution of the UCP2 gene -866 G/A polymorphism in the...

The tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-α) G-308A polymorphism has been suggested to be a susceptibility factor for myocardial infarction (MI). However, differing results from various studies have led to controversial conclusions. Hence, we performed a meta-analysis to evaluate the association between TNF-α G-308A polymorphism and MI. Reported studies published before March 30, 2015 were included ...

OBJECTIVE The aim of this study was to investigate the association of plasminogen activator inhibitor-1 (PAI-1) 4G/5G gene polymorphism and osteonecrosis of the femoral head (ONFH). METHODS The pooled relative risk ratio (RR) and 95% confidence intervals (95% CI) were calculated using the the RevMan 5.0 software. RESULTS The present study included 969 patients with ONFH and 419 healthy cont...

BACKGROUND MiRNAs, small non coding RNAs, play a role in the regulation of hematopoiesis, with effects on cell growth, differentiation, and apoptosis. In addition, MiRNAs are thought to play an important role in tumorigenesis. The miR146a G>C polymorphism can lead to alteration of miR146 expression, which appears to be associated with development and progression of several cancers. This study a...

BACKGROUND The -308 G/A polymorphism in the tumor necrosis factor (TNF) gene has been implicated in the risk of acne vulgaris, but the results are inconclusive. The present meta-analysis aimed to investigate the overall association between the -308 G/A polymorphism and acne vulgaris risk. METHODS We searched in Pubmed, Embase, Web of Science and CNKI for studies evaluating the association bet...

The etiology of gastric cancer is not well-understood. Epidermal growth factor (EGF) transduces growth signals to mitogen-activated protein kinase via RAS and BRAF, and EGF/EGF receptor interaction is important for tumor growth and progression. Previous studies have reported that the EGF +61 (A/G) single nucleotide polymorphism in the 5'-untranslated region of the EGF gene is functional, and is...

Matrix metalloproteinases (MMPs) facilitate cellular invasion by degrading the extracellular matrix, and their regulation is partially dependent on transcription. Binding sites for members of the Ets family of transcription factors are present within MMP promoters and are potent positive regulators. We report a single nucleotide polymorphism at -1607 bp in the MMP-1 promoter, where an additiona...