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.