title: A functional polymorphism of lymphotoxin-alpha (LTA) gene rs909253 is associated with gastric cancer risk in an Asian population.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  The potentially functional polymorphism, rs909253 (+252 G>A), in the intron region of the LT-α (TNF-β) gene has been implicated in the risk of gastric cancer (GC) in some individually published studies, but others have shown inconsistent and inconclusive results.
  
  
  METHODS
  We conducted a meta-analysis to assess the association between the lymphotoxin-α gene (LTA)+252 (G>A) polymorphism and gastric cancer susceptibility.
  
  
  RESULTS
  We demonstrate that there were no significant associations in single-locus analysis between the polymorphism of LTA and gastric cancer risk in all subjects; however, when studies were stratified by ethnicity, these polymorphisms of LTA were found to be associated with a significant cancer risk in different genetic models in an Asian population (heterozygote [GA genotype] comparison: odds ratio [OR] = 1.29, 95% confidence interval [CI]: 1.01-1.65, P = 0.038) in which the risk in the subjects was more than 70% (12 studies with 2074 cases and 3690 controls). Moreover, the susceptibility to gastric carcinogenesis has a substantial influence on the population-attributable risk by modulating the effects of environmental risk factors such as Helicobacter pylori infection (OR = 1.77, 95%CI: 1.05-2.99, P = 0.032).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The present meta-analysis results suggest that the LTA rs909253 GA genotype is a possible risk factor for developing gastric cancer in the Asian population, especially those with H. pylori infection.
authors: Department of Clinical Laboratory, Fudan University Shanghai Cancer Center, Shanghai, China. renquan_lu@dfci.harvard.edu
authors: Renquan
authors: R
authors: Lu
authors: Xiaowei
authors: X
authors: Dou
authors: Xiang
authors: X
authors: Gao
authors: Jing
authors: J
authors: Zhang
authors: Jian
authors: J
authors: Ni
authors: Lin
authors: L
authors: Guo
mesh_terms: D016022:Case-Control Studies; D002681:China; D005060:Europe; D020022:Genetic Predisposition to Disease; D016481:Helicobacter Infections / Q000235:genetics; D016480:Helicobacter pylori / Q000302:isolation & purification; D006801:Humans; D008233:Lymphotoxin-alpha / Q000235:genetics*; D020641:Polymorphism, Single Nucleotide; D013274:Stomach Neoplasms / Q000235:genetics* / Q000276:immunology
chemical_list: D008233:Lymphotoxin-alpha