Association of the MS4A2 gene promoter C-109T or the 7th exon E237G polymorphisms with asthma risk: a meta-analysis.
OBJECTIVE
A large number of studies have examined the association between the Membrane-spanning 4 domains, superfamily A, number 2 (MS4A2) gene C-109T (rs1441586) or E237G (rs569108) variants and asthma risk. However, the results are inconsistent and inconclusive. To derive a more precise estimation, a meta-analysis was performed.


METHODS
Meta-analyses were conducted with the data from case-control association studies (24 studies with 4496 asthmatics and 4571 controls for E237G variant and 9 studies including 2005 cases and 1868 control for C-109T polymorphisms, respectively). Random-effects model was used to calculate summary odds ratios (ORs).


RESULTS
For the MS4A2 gene E237G variant, no significant associations with asthma were found in overall population; we observed an elevated risk of atopic asthma among subjects with the 237G allele (OR=1.341, 95% CI: 1.039-1.732 for G versus E and OR=1.374, 95% CI: 1.032-1.828 for EG+GG versus EE) in the stratified meta-analysis. As for the MS4A2 gene C-109T polymorphism, no significant associations with asthma risk were observed in the total population; in subgroup analysis by ethnicity of subjects we found increased asthma risk among Asians carrying T allele (OR=1.140, 95% CI: 1.019-1.276 for T versus C and OR=1.359, 95% CI: 1.029-1.794 for TT versus CC).


CONCLUSIONS
Data indicated that the MS4A2 gene E237G variant may be a risk factor for developing atopic asthma and the promoter -109T allele is a potential risk factor of asthma in Asians.
Department of Preventive Medicine, College of Basic Medical Sciences, Hubei University of Chinese Medicine, Wuhan 430065, Hubei, PR China. Electronic address: haijyang@126.com.
Hai-Jun
HJ
Yang
Department of Respiratory Medicine, Hubei Hospital of Traditional Chinese Medicine Affiliated to Hubei University of Chinese Medicine, Wuhan 430061, Hubei, PR China.
Lan
L
Zheng
Department of Preventive Medicine, College of Basic Medical Sciences, Hubei University of Chinese Medicine, Wuhan 430065, Hubei, PR China.
Xue-Fei
XF
Zhang
Department of Preventive Medicine, College of Basic Medical Sciences, Hubei University of Chinese Medicine, Wuhan 430065, Hubei, PR China.
Min
M
Yang
Department of Preventive Medicine, College of Basic Medical Sciences, Hubei University of Chinese Medicine, Wuhan 430065, Hubei, PR China.
Xing
X
Huang
D001249:Asthma; D005091:Exons / Q000235:genetics*; D020022:Genetic Predisposition to Disease / Q000235:genetics; D006801:Humans; D011110:Polymorphism, Genetic; D011401:Promoter Regions, Genetic / Q000235:genetics*; D017455:Receptors, IgE / Q000235:genetics*
C502447:MS4A2 protein, human; D017455:Receptors, IgE
Asthma; Genetic polymorphism; MS4A2; Meta-analysis