Objective: The aim of this meta-analysis is to identify whether two common genetic polymorphisms (rs1042838 G > T and rs10895068 C > T) in the PGR gene may contribute to the pathogenesis of endometrial cancer.
Materials and methods: The MEDLINE (1966 ~ 2013), the Cochrane Library Database (Issue 12, 2013), EMBASE (1980 ~ 2013), CINAHL (1982 ~ 2013), Web of Science (1945 ~ 2013) and the Chinese Biomedical Database (CBM) (1982 ~ 2013) were searched without language restrictions. Meta-analyses were conducted using the STATA software (Version 12.0, Stata Corporation, College Station, Texas, USA). We calculated odds ratio (OR) and its 95% confidence interval (95% CI) to estimate the relationships between PGR genetic polymorphisms and the pathogenesis of endometrial cancer.
Results: Six studies with a total of 6,285 patients with endometrial cancer and 12,120 control subjects met the inclusion criteria for the meta-analysis. Our findings suggested that PGR rs1042838 polymorphism was significantly correlated with an increased risk of endometrial cancer (T allele vs. G allele: OR = 1.23, 95% CI: 1.07 ~ 1.42, P = 0.005; GT + TT vs. GG: OR = 1.21, 95% CI: 1.06 ~ 1.40, P = 0.006; TT vs. GG + GT: OR = 1.65, 95% CI: 1.09 ~ 2.49, P = 0.017; TT vs. GG: OR = 1.72, 95% CI: 1.12 ~ 2.65, P = 0.013; TT vs. GT: OR = 1.42, 95% CI: 1.01 ~ 2.00, P = 0.044, respectively). We also observed positive associations between PGR rs10895068 polymorphism and the pathogenesis of endometrial cancer (T allele vs. C allele: OR = 1.15, 95% CI: 1.02 ~ 1.29, P = 0.027; CT + TT vs. CC: OR = 1.14, 95% CI: 1.00 ~ 1.29, P = 0.045, respectively).
Conclusion: Ethnicity-stratified analysis indicated that rs1042838 and rs10895068 polymorphisms in the PGR gene might be strongly related to the pathogenesis of endometrial cancer among Caucasians and mixed populations (all P < 0.05). In conclusion, our findings provide empirical evidence that PGR rs1042838 and rs10895068 polymorphisms may be involved in the pathogenesis of endometrial cancer.