Background: Alpha-methylacyl-CoA racemase(AMACR) is thought to play key roles in diagnosis and prognosis of prostate cancer. However, studies of associations between AMACR gene polymorphisms and prostate cancer risk reported inconsistent results. Therefore, we conducted the present meta-analysis to clarify the link between AMACR gene polymorphisms and prostate cancer risk.
Materials and methods: A literature search was performed in PubMed, Embase, China National Knowledge Infrastructure (CNKI), Wanfang and Weipu databases. Odds ratios (ORs) and 95% confidence intervals (95%CIs) were calculated to assess the strength of any association between AMACR polymorphisms and prostate cancer risk. Subgroup analyses by ethnicity, source of controls, quality control and sample size were also conducted.
Results: Five studies covering 3,313 cases and 3,676 controls on five polymorphisms (D175G, M9V, S201L, K277E and Q239H) were included in this meta-analysis. Significant associations were detected between prostate cancer and D175G (dominant model: OR=0.89, 95%CI=0.80-0.99, P=0.04) and M9V (dominant model: OR=0.87, 95%CI=0.78-0.97, P=0.01) polymorphisms as well as that in subgroup analyses. We also observed significant decreased prostate cancer risk in the dominant model (OR=0.90, 95%CI=0.81-0.99, P=0.04) for the S201L polymorphism. However, K277E and Q239H polymorphisms did not appear to be related to prostate cancer risk.
Conclusions: The current meta- analysis indicated that D175G and M9V polymorphisms of the AMACR gene are related to prostate cancer. The S201L polymorphism might also be linked with prostate cancer risk to some extent. However, no association was observed between K277E or Q239H polymorphisms and susceptibility to prostate cancer.