Background: Numerous studies have been conducted to evaluate the association between excision repair cross-complementing group 6 (ERCC6) gene polymorphisms and bladder cancer risk, but their findings have been inconsistent. Here we performed a meta-analysis to attempt to clarify this association.
Methods: Studies were retrieved from the PubMed and China National Knowledge Infrastructure databases up to October 1, 2015, with strict selection and exclusion criteria. A total of 5,032 samples, comprising samples from 2,475 bladder cancer patients and 2,557 controls from 5 studies, were included in the meta-analysis. The odds ratio (OR) with 95% confidence interval (CI) was used to evaluate the strength of the associations.
Results: Regarding the Met1097Val polymorphism, no significant association with bladder cancer risk was found in any of the genetic models evaluated (Val vs. Met: OR = 1.10, 95% CI, 0.97-1.25; Val/Val vs. Met/Met: OR = 1.23, 95% CI, 0.86-1.75; Val/Val + Val/Met vs. Met/Met: OR = 1.12, 95% CI, 0.96-1.30; Val/Val vs. Met/Met + Val/Met: OR = 0.81, 95% CI, 0.57-1.14). Similarly, as regards the Arg1230Pro polymorphism, we also found no positive results.
Conclusions: According to the results of our meta-analysis, there is no evidence of a link between the ERCC6 gene polymorphisms and bladder cancer risk. Well-designed further studies, with larger sample sizes and adjustment for confounders such as smoking status, are needed to confirm these conclusions.