Tumour Necrosis Factor 308 Polymorphisms and Hepatocellular Carcinoma Risk: a Meta-analysis

Background/Aims: To investigate the association of the common polymorphisms comprehensively defining the genetic variability of the TNFA-308G>A with HCC risk. Methodology: We performed a meta-analysis of 9 published studies that included 1362 cancer cases and 2426 controls. We used random-effect (RE) or fixed-effect (FE) odds ratios (ORs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) according to the studies' heterogeneity to assess the strength of the associations. Results: The overall results suggested that the TNFA-308 AA and AG variant genotypes were associated with a significantly increased risk of HCC in different genetic models (homozygote comparison:OR=2.51,95% CI: 1.11-5.67, p heterogeneity=0.905; heterozygote comparison: OR=1.58, 95% CI: 1.00-2.50, p heterogeneity=0.001; dominant model comparison: OR=1.59, 95% CI: 1.00-2.53, p heterogeneity=0.000; recessive model comparison: OR=2.27, 95% CI: 1.01-5.12, p heterogeneity=0.962; complete overdominant model comparison: OR=1.57, 95% CI: 1.00-2.45. P heterogeneity =0.001; and allele comparison: OR=1.52, 95% CI: 1.01-2.28, p heterogeneity =0.002. There was at some extent heterogeneity when analyses were performed in some models, and there was no publication bias. Conclusions: This meta-analysis supported that the TNFA-308 A allele is a risk factor for HCC development.