title: Androgen receptor gene CAG repeat polymorphism and ovarian cancer risk: A meta-analysis.
abstract: Ovarian cancer is one of the common gynecological malignancies worldwide. It is usually diagnosed at a later stage, thus missing the best opportunity for treatment. Despite the advancement of ovarian cancer treatment, the prognosis is still poor. Androgen receptor (AR) may play a role in ovarian carcinogenesis. Previous studies regarding the association between AR CAG repeat length and ovarian cancer risk reported inconsistent results. Therefore, we conducted a meta-analysis to evaluate the association between AR CAG repeat length and ovarian cancer risk following the MOOSE guidelines. PubMed, Web of Science, EBSCO and other databases were searched up to September 15th2016. Case control studies with clear definition of CAG repeat length and detailed genotype information were included. Two authors independently reviewed and extracted data. Pooled analysis and subgroup analysis stratified by ethnicity were performed for different genetic models. Begg's funnel plot and Egger's test were performed for publication bias estimation. Overall, there was no association between the AR CAG repeat polymorphism and ovarian cancer risk. However, short CAG repeat polymorphism was associated with increased ovarian cancer risk in African Americans and Chinese under the dominant model, whereas a reverse association was observed in Caucasians and Italians under the other three models. Our study results should be interpreted with caution. Further well-designed epidemiological and functional studies are needed to elucidate the role of AR in ovarian carcinogenesis.
authors.affiliation: Department of Epidemiology, School of Public Health, Taishan Medical University.
authors.forename: Yang
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Deng
authors.affiliation: Office of Clinical Epidemiology, Obstetrics and Gynecology Hospital of Fudan University.
authors.forename: Jue
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.affiliation: Laboratory for Reproductive Immunology, Hospital & Institute of Obstetrics and Gynecology, IBS, Fudan University Shanghai Medical College.|The Academy of Integrative Medicine of Fudan University.|Shanghai Key Laboratory of Female Reproductive Endocrine Related Diseases.
authors.forename: Ling
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.affiliation: Office of Clinical Epidemiology, Obstetrics and Gynecology Hospital of Fudan University.
authors.forename: Yan
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Du
mesh_terms: D005260:Female; D020022:Genetic Predisposition to Disease; D006801:Humans; D010051:Ovarian Neoplasms / Q000235:genetics*; D011110:Polymorphism, Genetic; D011944:Receptors, Androgen / Q000235:genetics*
chemical_list: D011944:Receptors, Androgen
keywords: Androgen receptor (AR); CAG polymorphism; meta-analysis; ovarian cancer risk