Purpose: Studies investigating the association between excision repair cross-complimentary group 2 (ERCC2) polymorphisms and gastric cancer (GC) risk have reported conflicting results. We performed a meta-analysis of published epidemiological studies to derive a more precise estimation of the relationship.
Methods: Published literature from PubMed, EMBASE, and China National Knowledge Infrastructure was retrieved. Ten studies with 2,141 GC cases and 5,343 controls were selected.
Results: No association between ERCC2 Lys751Gln polymorphism and GC susceptibility for all genetic models was found. When stratified by race, we found the Gln/Gln genotype carriers might be at high risk of GC among Asians, but not among Caucasians. Also, the pooled results showed there was a significant difference in genotype distribution between non-gastric cardia cancer cases and controls. For ERCC2 Asp312Asn polymorphism, significantly elevated GC risk was associated with Asn/Asn genotype (AA vs. GG + GA: OR = 1.36, 95%CI = 1.04-1.77, P = 0.02). We also found this genotype was associated with GC susceptibility among Asians and subjects without Helicobacter pylori infection. No publication bias was found in the present study.
Conclusions: This meta-analysis concluded that both ERCC2 Lys751Gln and Asp312Asn polymorphisms might contribute to increased risk of GC among Asians.