CYP2E1 Rsa I/Pst I polymorphism contributes to oral cancer susceptibility: a meta-analysis

Previous data on association between CYP2E1 Rsa I/Pst I polymorphism and oral cancer risk were controversial. To investigate the association between CYP2E1 Rsa I/Pst I polymorphism and oral cancer risk. We performed a meta-analysis to assess the relationship between oral cancer and genotype with English language until June 2010. Twelve published case–control studies of 1259 patients with oral cancer and 2262 controls were acquired. Odds ratios (ORs) with 95% confidence intervals (CIs) were used to assess the strength of the association in codominant and dominant models. Overall, the pooled ORs indicated a significant association between CYP2E1 Rsa I/Pst I polymorphism and oral cancer risk (for c1/c2 vs. c1/c1: OR = 1.30, 95% CI = 1.04–1.62, P_{heterogeneity} = 0.57; for (c1/c2 + c2/c2) vs. c1/c1: OR = 1.32, 95% CI = 1.07–1.64, P_{heterogeneity} = 0.57, respectively). In subgroup analysis by race, the same significant risks were found among Asian (for c1/c2 vs. c1/c1: OR = 1.41, 95% CI = 1.05–1.91, P_{heterogeneity} = 0.92; for (c1/c2 + c2/c2) vs. c1/c1: OR = 1.43, 95% CI = 1.08–1.88, P_{heterogeneity} = 0.97, respectively). In conclusion, this meta-analysis demonstrates that CYP2E1 Rsa I/Pst I c2 allele may be a biomarker for oral cancer, especially among Asian populations.