title: Note of the methodological flaws in the paper entitled "Polymorphisms in IL-4/IL-13 pathway genes and glioma risk: an updated meta-analysis".
abstract: With great interest, we read the paper "Polymorphisms in IL-4/IL-13 pathway genes and glioma risk: an updated meta-analysis" (by Chen PQ et al.) [1], which has reached important conclusions about the relationship between polymorphisms in interleukin (IL)-4/IL-13 pathway genes and glioma risk. Through quantitative analysis, the meta-analysis found no association between IL-4/IL-13 pathway genetic polymorphisms and glioma risk (Chen et al. in Tumor Biol 36:121-127, 2015). The meta-analysis is the most comprehensive study of polymorphisms in the IL-4/IL-13 pathway and glioma risk. Nevertheless, some deficiencies still exist in this meta-analysis that we would like to raise.
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurology, West China Hospital, Sichuan University, No. 37 Guoxue Road, Chengdu, 610041, Sichuan, China.
authors.forename: Ting-Ting
authors.initials: TT
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurology, West China Hospital, Sichuan University, No. 37 Guoxue Road, Chengdu, 610041, Sichuan, China.
authors.forename: Jin-Mei
authors.initials: JM
authors.lastname: Li
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurology, West China Hospital, Sichuan University, No. 37 Guoxue Road, Chengdu, 610041, Sichuan, China. zhoudong66@yahoo.de.
authors.forename: Dong
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Zhou
keywords: Glioma; IL-4/IL-13; Meta-analysis; Polymorphisms