Association between the Estrogen receptor β rs1256049 polymorphism and prostate cancer risk:a meta-analysis

The Estrogen receptor β (ESR-β) gene is suggested to have a growth inhibitory role in prostate tissue and was proposed as a new therapeutic target for prostate cancer (PCa). Precedent studies have investigated the association between the ESR-β rs1256049 polymorphism and PCa but findings were inconsistent. Thus, this meta-analysis was performed to assess whether the ESR-β rs1256049 polymorphism is associated with an increased susceptibility to PCa. Eligible studies published before February 5, 2022 were systematically searched in PubMed, Web of Science, ScienceDirect and Google Scholar databases. The sample set was extracted from 11 case-control studies involving 9390 cases and 10057 controls for the association between ESR-β rs1256049 polymorphism and PCa susceptibility. In our overall meta-analysis, no significant association between rs1256049 and PCa risk was found under all genetic models. In subgroup analysis according to ethnicity, Asians, had a significantly decreased cancer risk based on both the heterozygote genetic model (OR = 0.75, 95% CI = [0.63, 0.89] P = 0.01) and the dominant model (OR = 0.80, 95% CI [0.69, 0.94] P = 0.01). For the Caucasian group, there was a significantly increased risk observed in the allelic model (OR = 1.17, 95% CI = [1.04, 1.32] P = 0.01), heterozygote model (OR = 1.15, 95% CI = [1.01, 1.31] P = 0.03) and the dominant model (OR = 1.17, 95% CI = [1.03, 1.32] P = 0.01). Our results demonstrate that ESR-β r1256049 polymorphism may play a possible promising effect in PCa in Caucasians and a protective factor in Asians.