Lack of association between the P2X7 receptor A1513C polymorphism and susceptibility to pulmonary tuberculosis: a meta-analysis

Background and objective: Genetic background may influence susceptibility pulmonary tuberculosis. The evidence for an association between the P2X7 receptor A1513C polymorphism and susceptibility to pulmonary tuberculosis remains inconclusive. In order to provide a more precise estimate of this association, a meta-analysis was performed.

Methods: Databases, including PUBMED, OVID, ScienceDirect, SpringerLink, EBSCO and EMBASE were searched for publications that met the inclusion criteria. A fixed effect model was used to estimate pooled OR with 95% CI for the association between susceptibility to pulmonary tuberculosis and the P2X7 receptor A1513C polymorphism. The chi-squared-based Q-test was used to test the heterogeneity hypothesis. Begg's test and Egger's test were used to check publication bias.

Results: Six published case-control studies that investigated the association between the P2X7 receptor A1513C polymorphism and susceptibility to pulmonary tuberculosis in 2525 subjects were included in this meta-analysis. The heterogeneity hypothesis test did not reveal any heterogeneity. Begg's test and Egger's test did not detect obvious publication bias among the included studies. This meta-analysis indicated that there was no significant association between the P2X7 receptor A1513C polymorphism and susceptibility to pulmonary tuberculosis (AC vs AA model: OR 1.12, 95% CI: 0.93-1.35; CC vs AA model: OR 1.45, 95% CI: 0.92-2.28; AC + CC vs AA model: OR 1.15, 95% CI: 0.96-1.13; CC vs AC + AA model: OR 1.42, 95% CI: 0.90-2.23).

Conclusions: This meta-analysis of six studies involving 2525 subjects suggested that the P2X7 receptor A1531C polymorphism is not associated with susceptibility to pulmonary tuberculosis.