Abstract

Objective: Epidemiological studies have suggested that the promoter region polymorphisms of interleukin-10 (IL-10) gene may be associated with an increased risk of lung cancer. However, those studies results are controversial. Thus, a comprehensive meta-analysis was performed to evaluate the association of promoter region polymorphisms of IL-10 gene with susceptibility to lung cancer. Methods: a comprehensive search of PubMed, EMBASE, and CNKI databases was performed to find all eligible studies up to September 15, 2018. The pooled odds ratios (ORs) with 95 confidence intervals (CIs) were used to assess the strength of such association. Results: A total number of 19 case-control studies with 4084 cases and 6,131 controls were selected. The overall meta-analysis results showed that the -592A>C polymorphism was significantly associated with lung cancer risk under four genetic models, i.e., allele (CT vs. TT: OR= 1.17, 95 CI 1.01-1.35, p=0.02), homozygote (CC vs. AA: OR= 1.64, 95 CI 1.29-2.02, p</=0.001), heterozygote (CA vs. AA: OR= 1.26, 95 CI 1.06-1.50, p</=0.001), and dominant (CC+CA vs. AA: OR= 1.31, 95 CI 1.11-1.54, p=0.001). However, there was no significant association between -819T>C and -1082A>G polymorphisms of IL-10 and lung cancer risk. Similarly, subgroup analyses by ethnicity detected significant association between IL-10 -592A>C and lung cancer among Asians and Caucasians. Conclusions: Our meta-analysis suggests that the IL-10 -592A>C polymorphism might be risk factor for lung cancer, especially among Asian and Caucasians. In contrast, the IL-10 -819T>C and -1082A>G polymorphisms are not significantly associated with increased risk of lung cancer.