Previous studies published to evaluate the association between FAS-1377 G/A polymorphism and susceptibility to gastric cancer provided inconclusive outcomes. To derive a more precise estimation on this association, a meta-analysis of published case-control studies was performed. Eligible studies up to November 13, 2012 were identified from PubMed, Wanfang Medicine database, and Web of Science. Nine studies with a total of 2,086 cases and 2,701 controls were finally included into this meta-analysis. Overall, there was an obvious association between FAS-1377 G/A polymorphism and susceptibility to gastric cancer (for AA versus GG: odds ratio (OR) = 1.38; 95 % confidence interval (CI) 1.00-1.91, P = 0.05; for AA versus
Ga/gg: OR = 1.28; 95 %CI 1.07-1.53, P = 0.006). After excluding studies with low quality, there was no between-study heterogeneity, and there was still an obvious association between FAS-1377 G/A polymorphism and susceptibility to gastric cancer (for AA versus GG: OR = 1.25; 95 %CI 1.02-1.52, P = 0.03; for AA versus
Ga/gg: OR = 1.27; 95 %CI 1.05-1.53, P = 0.01). Subgroup analyses by ethnicity showed that the association above was still obvious in Asians, but the association was still unclear in Caucasians owing to the limited sample. In summary, this meta-analysis suggests that the FAS-1377 G/A polymorphism is associated with susceptibility to gastric cancer, especially in Asians. More studies from Caucasians are needed to provide further evidence for the possible association in Caucasians.