title: Common polymorphisms in CD44 gene and susceptibility to cancer: A systematic review and meta-analysis of 45 studies.
abstract: CD44 is one of the commonly recognized stem cell markers, which plays a critical role in many cancer related cellular processes. Relationships between CD44 polymorphisms and cancer risk have been widely investigated previously, whereas results derived from these studies were inconclusive and controversial. We conducted present meta-analysis aiming to explore the association between CD44 polymorphisms and cancer risk. We calculated pooled odds ratios (ORs) corresponding with the 95% confidence intervals (CIs) to make the evaluation clear. Embase, Web of Science, PubMed and Cochrane Library databases were retrieved to identify all eligible publications. As a result, a total of 12 publications comprised 25,777 cases and 27,485 controls fulfilled the inclusion criteria. Nevertheless, the pooled analyses suggested that no significant association was uncovered between CD44 (rs10836347, rs11821102, rs13347, rs1425802, rs353639, rs713330 and rs187115) polymorphisms with overall cancer risk. Subsequently, we conducted subgroup analysis for rs13347 polymorphism based on source of control, and we identified a significantly increased cancer risk for the population-based (P-B) group restricted to a recessive model (TT vs. TC+CC: OR = 2.030, 95%CI: 1.163-3.545, PAdjust < 0.001). In conclusion, our meta-analysis demonstrates that CD44 polymorphisms may not represent risk factors for cancer. Future well-designed large-scale case-control studies are warranted to verify our findings.
authors.affiliation: Department of Urology, The First Affiliated Hospital of Anhui Medical University, Hefei, China.|Institute of Urology, Anhui Medical University, Hefei, China.
authors.forename: Meng
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.affiliation: Department of Urology, The First Affiliated Hospital of Anhui Medical University, Hefei, China.
authors.forename: Yangyang
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.affiliation: Department of Urology, The First Affiliated Hospital of Anhui Medical University, Hefei, China.
authors.forename: Tingting
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Fang
authors.affiliation: Department of Urology, The Second People's Hospital of Guangdong Province, Guangzhou, China.
authors.forename: Yangke
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Cai
authors.affiliation: Department of Urology, The First Affiliated Hospital of Anhui Medical University, Hefei, China.|Institute of Urology, Anhui Medical University, Hefei, China.
authors.forename: Yue
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Xu
authors.affiliation: Department of Urology, The First Affiliated Hospital of Anhui Medical University, Hefei, China.
authors.forename: Cunye
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Yan
authors.affiliation: Department of Urology, The First Affiliated Hospital of Anhui Medical University, Hefei, China.|Institute of Urology, Anhui Medical University, Hefei, China.
authors.forename: Li
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.affiliation: Department of Urology, The First Affiliated Hospital of Anhui Medical University, Hefei, China.|Institute of Urology, Anhui Medical University, Hefei, China.
authors.forename: Chaozhao
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Liang
mesh_terms: D000483:Alleles; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D056726:Genetic Association Studies; D018740:Genetic Heterogeneity; D020022:Genetic Predisposition to Disease; D005838:Genotype; D006801:Humans; D018960:Hyaluronan Receptors / Q000235:genetics*; D015810:Linkage Disequilibrium; D016017:Odds Ratio; D020641:Polymorphism, Single Nucleotide; D017594:Publication Bias; D012306:Risk
chemical_list: C497483:CD44 protein, human; D018960:Hyaluronan Receptors
keywords: CD44; cancer; meta-analysis; polymorphism; systematic review