title: Vitamin D receptor gene polymorphisms and the risk for female reproductive cancers: A meta-analysis.
abstract: Vitamin D receptor (VDR) gene polymorphisms and the risks for various breast and ovarian cancers have been reported in many epidemiological studies. However, the associations between VDR gene polymorphisms and the risk for each type of cancer are unclear. The aim of this meta-analysis was to evaluate the associations between VDR gene polymorphisms and female reproductive cancers. A systematic review was performed with the PubMed Science Direct, Scopus, and Google Scholar databases up to April 2014 using the search terms "vitamin D receptor or VDR" and "variant or polymorphism or SNP" with terms for breast, ovarian, cervical, endometrial, uterine, and vaginal cancers. A meta-analysis with the pooled odds ratios and 95% confidence intervals was carried out to assess the associations between VDR polymorphisms (Cdx-2, FokI, BsmI, ApaI, and TaqI) and the risks for reproductive cancers under the heterozygous, homozygous, dominant, and recessive models with fixed or random effects models. Six ovarian cancer studies (13 individual studies involving 4107 cases and 6661 controls) and 29 breast cancer studies (38 individual studies involving 16,453 cases and 22,044 controls) were included in our meta-analysis. Our results indicate that the FokI polymorphism was related to increased risks for breast and ovarian cancers, whereas the BsmI polymorphism was associated with a decreased risk for developing these cancers. Our comprehensive meta-analysis indicated that the FokI and BsmI VDR gene polymorphisms may be significantly associated with gynecological cancers. We suggest monitoring VDR gene polymorphisms as potential biomarkers in patients with gynecological malignancy.
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemistry, School of Natural Science, Dankook University, Cheonan 330-714, Republic of Korea; Institute of Tissue Regeneration Engineering (ITREN), Dankook University, Cheonan 330-714, Republic of Korea.
authors.forename: Myung-Jin
authors.initials: MJ
authors.lastname: Mun
authors.affiliation: Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Soonchunhyang University College of Medicine, Bucheon 420-767, Republic of Korea. Electronic address: heeobgy@naver.com.
authors.forename: Tae-Hee
authors.initials: TH
authors.lastname: Kim
authors.affiliation: Department of Biomedical Engineering, Korea University College of Health Science, Seoul 136-713, Republic of Korea. Electronic address: jyhwang@korea.ac.kr.
authors.forename: Ji-Young
authors.initials: JY
authors.lastname: Hwang
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemistry, School of Natural Science, Dankook University, Cheonan 330-714, Republic of Korea.
authors.forename: Won-Cheoul
authors.initials: WC
authors.lastname: Jang
mesh_terms: D001943:Breast Neoplasms / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000235:genetics*; D005260:Female; D020022:Genetic Predisposition to Disease; D006801:Humans; D016017:Odds Ratio; D010051:Ovarian Neoplasms / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000235:genetics*; D011110:Polymorphism, Genetic; D018167:Receptors, Calcitriol / Q000235:genetics*; D012306:Risk
chemical_list: D018167:Receptors, Calcitriol
keywords: Female; Meta-analysis as topic; Polymorphism; Vitamin D receptor