title: No Evidence of Association of the Arg72Pro p53 Gene Polymorphism with Cancer Risk in the Saudi Population: a Meta-Analysis.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Earlier studies on the association between p53 codon 72 Arg>Pro polymorphism and cancer risk were inconclusive and conflicting for the Saudi population. Therefore, we performed a meta-analysis to investigate the relationship between the codon 72 Arg>Pro polymorphism and overall cancer risk in Saudi Arabia.
  
  
  METHODS
  We searched all eligible published studies and data were pooled together to perform the meta-analysis. Pooled odds ratios (ORs) and 95% confidence intervals (95% CIs) were calculated for homozygous, heterozygous, dominant and recessive genetic models.
  
  
  RESULTS
  A total of five eligible published studies covering 502 cancer cases and 784 healthy controls were included in the meta-analysis. No publication bias was detected in this study. The results suggested that the variant (Pro vs Arg: p=0.960; OR=1.004, 95% CI=0.852-1.183), homozygous (Pro.Pro vs Arg.Arg: p=0.970; OR=1.006, 95% CI=0.729-1.390), heterozygous (Arg.Pro vs Arg.Arg: p=0.473; OR=0.783, 95% CI=0.402-1.527) carriers were not associated with overall cancer risk. Similarly, dominant (Pro.Pro+Pro.Arg vs Arg.Arg: p=0.632; OR=0.886, 95% CI=0.540-1.454) and recessive (Pro.Pro vs Pro.Arg+Arg.Arg: p=0.269; OR=1.163, 95%CI=0.890-1.521) models also did not indicate increased risk of cancer.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The current meta-analysis suggests that the codon 72 Arg>Pro polymorphism of the p53 gene might not contribute to cancer susceptibility in Saudi population. Future well designed large case control studies are needed to validate our findings.
authors: Department of Medical Education, College of Medicine, King Saud University, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia E-mail : hamzaabg@gmail.com; hamzaab@ksu.edu.sa.
authors: Mohammad
authors: M
authors: Irshad
authors: Raju Kumar
authors: RK
authors: Mandal
authors: Abdulmajeed
authors: A
authors: Al-Drees
authors: Mahmoud Salah
authors: MS
authors: Khalil
authors: Hamza Mohammad
authors: HM
authors: Abdulghani
mesh_terms: D003062:Codon; D020022:Genetic Predisposition to Disease; D006801:Humans; D009369:Neoplasms / Q000235:genetics*; D011110:Polymorphism, Genetic; D012307:Risk Factors; D012529:Saudi Arabia; D016159:Tumor Suppressor Protein p53 / Q000235:genetics*
chemical_list: D003062:Codon; D016159:Tumor Suppressor Protein p53