title: Investigation on association between five common polymorphisms in vascular endothelial growth factor and prototypes of autoimmune diseases.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) is a crucial regulator in angiogenesis. Previous research has indicated that modified VEGF-VEGFR signaling pathway has an impact on the development of inflammatory diseases. It has been proved that single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) for critical genes might be associated with the susceptibility of autoimmune diseases. In this study, we targeted five common VEGF SNPs, i.e. -1154G>A, +405G>C, -2578C>A, +936C>T and -460T>C. Their associations with eleven prototypes autoimmune disease were assessed by our meta-analysis.
  
  
  METHODS
  PubMed/Medline and CNKI were searched for related articles. Studies fulfilled the inclusion criteria were enrolled in this analysis. Meta-analysis was performed using odds ratio and 95% confidence intervals as effect measures.
  
  
  RESULTS
  73 studies from 30 relevant articles were retrieved in accordance with the data selection methods. A total of 11,354 cases and 8694 controls from the 30 included studies were enrolled in this meta-analysis. In the overall analysis, no statistically significant association was confirmed concerning five common VEGF polymorphisms and the susceptibility of autoimmune diseases. Interestingly, in the stratified analysis by ethnicity, the C allele of +405G>C polymorphism in Caucasian people was found to be correlated to increase autoimmune diseases risk, while an inverse trend of association was observed in Asian people. Also, decreased susceptibility to Graves' disease was detected in Caucasian people with G allele in +405G>C polymorphism. Besides, a trend of decreased risk of psoriatic arthritis was confirmed among population with T allele of +936C>T polymorphism.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  In summary, as suggested by our analysis, +405G>C polymorphism in VEGF might exert an influence on autoimmune diseases, with opposite effect observed in Asians and Caucasians. No association between the other four common SNPs (-2578C>A, -1154G>A and -460T>C) and autoimmune diseases susceptibility was confirmed.
authors: Department of Rheumatology and Immumology, the First Affiliated Hospital with Nanjing Medical University, 300 Guangzhou Road, Nanjing 210029, Jiangsu, PR China.
authors: Nan
authors: N
authors: Che
authors: Department of Rheumatology, Huai'an First People's Hospital, Nanjing Medical University, 6 Beijing Road West, Huai'an 223300, Jiangsu, PR China.
authors: Yongsheng
authors: Y
authors: Li
authors: Department of Rheumatology, Huai'an First People's Hospital, Nanjing Medical University, 6 Beijing Road West, Huai'an 223300, Jiangsu, PR China.
authors: Shanshan
authors: S
authors: Liu
authors: Department of Rheumatology, Huai'an First People's Hospital, Nanjing Medical University, 6 Beijing Road West, Huai'an 223300, Jiangsu, PR China.
authors: Wenyou
authors: W
authors: Pan
authors: Department of Rheumatology, Huai'an First People's Hospital, Nanjing Medical University, 6 Beijing Road West, Huai'an 223300, Jiangsu, PR China. Electronic address: liuyan_njmu@hotmail.com.
authors: Yan
authors: Y
authors: Liu
mesh_terms: D000483:Alleles; D001327:Autoimmune Diseases / Q000235:genetics* / Q000276:immunology*; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D020022:Genetic Predisposition to Disease; D005838:Genotype; D006801:Humans; D016017:Odds Ratio; D020641:Polymorphism, Single Nucleotide; D017594:Publication Bias; D042442:Vascular Endothelial Growth Factors / Q000235:genetics*
chemical_list: D042442:Vascular Endothelial Growth Factors
keywords: Autoimmune disease; Meta-analysis; SNP; Vascular endothelial growth factor