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. 2019 Sep 13;39(9):BSR20190368. doi: 10.1042/BSR20190368

Association of the vitamin D metabolism gene GC and CYP27B1 polymorphisms with cancer susceptibility: a meta-analysis and trial sequential analysis

Man Zhu 1, Zheqiong Tan 1, Zhenzhao Luo 1, Hui Hu 1, Tangwei Wu 1, Shiqiang Fang 1, Hui Wang 1, Zhongxin Lu 1,
PMCID: PMC6744587  PMID: 31467173

Abstract

Nowadays, vitamin D is known to have functions beyond bone formation, including inhibiting angiogenesis and promoting tumor apoptosis. CYP27B1 and group-specific component (GC), the main enzyme responsible for the degradation and transport of active vitamin D, play important role in many cancer-related cellular processes. Relationships between CYP27B1 and GC polymorphisms and cancer susceptibility have been widely investigated, whereas the results are inconsistent. We strictly searched EMBASE, PubMed, Web of Science, WanFang and CNKI electronic databases for relevant studies exploring the associations of GC (rs4588 and rs7041) and CYP27B1 (rs4646537, rs3782130) polymorphisms with cancer risks according to search strategy. Thirty-two studies published in 13 articles involving 15713 cases and 17304 controls were included. Our analyses suggested that rs4588 and rs7041 polymorphisms were significantly associated with overall cancer risk. Stratification analyses of ethnicity indicated that rs4588 polymorphism significantly increased cancer risk in Caucasians and Asians, while rs7041 polymorphism significantly increased cancer risk in Asians. When studies were stratified by cancer type, our results indicated that rs4588 significantly increased the risk of breast cancer and digestive system tumor, but not in prostate cancer and non-small cell lung cancer, while rs7041 significantly increased the risk of non-small cell lung cancer. Above associations were noteworthy findings as evaluated by false-positive report probabilities (FPRPs). There were no associations of rs4646537 and rs3782130 with overall cancer risks. Associations between CYP27B1 and GC polymorphisms and cancer risks were examined, and additional large samples are necessary to validate our results.

Keywords: cancer susceptibility, CYP27B1, group-specific component, meta-analysis, polymorphism, vitamin D-binding proteins

Introduction

Cancer remains a major global burden of public health. According to the GLOBOCAN 2018, there will be an estimated 18.1 million new cancer cases and 9.6 million deaths in 2018 worldwide [1]. Various causes involving a variety of environmental and genetic factors lead to the development of cancer, although the exact mechanism of carcinogenesis has not been fully understood.

Vitamin D is a fat-soluble vitamin that is closely related to health [2]. They have the following three characteristics: (1) they are found in some natural foods; (2) humans store 7-dehydrocholesterol from cholesterol, which can be converted into vitamin D3 after exposure to ultraviolet light; (3) proper sunbathing is enough to satisfy the body’s vitamin D need [2]. Vitamin D deficiency is a ubiquitous phenomenon. Nowadays, vitamin D is known to have functions beyond bone formation, including enhancing immune defense [3], inhibiting cell proliferation [4], inhibiting angiogenesis [5], inhibiting cell metastasis [6], and promoting tumor apoptosis [4]. In addition, vitamin D can reduce mortality in several malignancies [7]. Numerous studies have shown that vitamin D deficiency may be the reason why thousands of patients die prematurely from colon, breast, ovarian and other cancers each year [8–10].

Vitamin D is synthesized by a series of reactions catalyzed by many enzymes. CYP2R1 and CYP27A1 are 25-hydroxylase enzymes that first convert pro-vitamin D absorbed from the diet or produced in the skin after exposure to sunlight [11]. Next, CYP27B1, 1a-hydroxylase converts 25(OH)D into 1,25-dihydroxyvitamin D [1,25(OH)2D3] in the kidney [11]. Both vitamin D metabolites bind to vitamin D-binding proteins, also known as group-specific component (GC), which aid in the transport of vitamin D [11]. Genetic polymorphisms involving the vitamin D pathway may affect its activity, so if vitamin D does play a role in carcinogenesis, it may be associated with cancer.

Recently, genome-wide association studies (GWASs) have identified CYP27B1 and GC polymorphisms significantly associated with 25(OH)D concentrations [12]. The worldwide variation of CYP27B1 gene (Chromosome 12: 58,156,117-58,162,769 reverse strand) and of its polymorphism SNP rs4646537 (Chromosome 12:58157281 forward strand) and SNP rs3782130 (Chromosome 12:58161898 forward strand), and GC gene (Chromosome 4: 72,607,410-72,669,758 reverse strand) and of its polymorphism SNP rs4588 (Chromosome 4:72618323 forward strand) and SNP rs7041 (Chromosome 4:72618334 forward strand) were analyzed with data obtained from the public database 1000 Genomes Phase 3 Browser. According to the 1000 Genomes Project Phase 3 allele frequencies, the minor allele frequency (MAF) for rs4646537 is 4% in the combined population, the MAF for rs3782130 is 35% in the combined population, the MAF for rs4588 is 21% in the combined population, and the MAF for rs7041 is 38% in the combined population. Up to now, two common CYP27B1 polymorphisms (rs4646537, rs3782130) and two common GC polymorphisms (rs4588 and rs7041) were found to be associated with cancer risks, including breast cancer, non-small cell lung cancer, prostate cancer, hepatocellular carcinoma, esophageal cancer, gastric cancer and colorectal cancer. However, the results are inconsistent, probably because of the limited sample size. To better explore the precise relationship, we performed a meta-analysis and trial sequential analysis (TSA) to characterize the associations of GC (rs4588 and rs7041) and CYP27B1 (rs4646537, rs3782130) polymorphisms with cancer susceptibility.

Materials and methods

Literature retrieval

We strictly searched EMBASE, PubMed, Web of Science, Wan Fang and CNKI electronic databases (up to 1 December 2018) for relevant studies exploring the associations of GC (rs4588 and rs7041) and CYP27B1 (rs4646537, rs3782130) polymorphisms with cancer risks according to the search strategy (Supplementary Table S1). Four authors (Man Zhu, Zhenzhao Luo, Zheqiong Tan and Hui Wang) independently searched and screened the search.

Inclusion and exclusion criteria

Enrolled studies should meet the following inclusion criteria: (A) Human-based research; (B) Case–control/cohort studies; (C) Effective data were available to compute odds ratio (OR), 95% confidence interval (CI) and P-value; (D) Involved in the associations of GC (rs4588 and rs7041) or CYP27B1 (rs4646537, rs3782130) polymorphisms (at least one polymorphism involved) with cancer risk; (E) The control group met Hardy–Weinberg equilibrium (HWE). When P>0.05, the genetic balance of the population genes is indicated, indicating that the data are from the same Mendelian population [13]. In addition, the enrolled studies also need to meet the following exclusion criteria: (A) Case only or non-cancer subject only studies; (B) Duplicate publications; (C) Conference abstracts.

Data extraction

Two researchers (Tangwei Wu and Hui Hu) independently screened the detailed data from all enrolled studies. The following data were collected: first author name, issuing time, country, ethnicity, type of cancer, control source, genotyping method, numbers of cases and controls.

Quality assessment

Two researchers (Tangwei Wu and Hui Hu) assessed the quality of each investigation using the quality assessment criteria (Supplementary Table S2), which was derived from previously published meta-analysis of molecular association studies [14]. The quality assessment criteria cover the methodology for the ascertainment of cancer case (0–2 points), case representation (0–2 points), control representation (0–3 points), control selection (0–2 points), genotyping examination (0–2 points), conformity to HWE (0–1 point) and total sample size (0–3 points). Total scores ranged from 0 to 15, and studies with scores >9 points were classified as high quality.

Statistical analysis

Stata software (Stata, College Station, TX, U.S.A.), version 12.0, was used for statistical analysis. Associations of GC (rs4588 and rs7041) and CYP27B1 (rs4646537, rs3782130) polymorphisms with cancer risks were estimated by OR and 95% CI. Five different genetic models (dominant, recessive, homozygote, heterozygote and allele model) were used in current study. Statistical heterogeneity was counted by Cochrane Q-test and P-values, and random-effect model was used if P≤0.10 or I2 ≥ 50%, otherwise, fixed-effect model was used. Stratification analysis was performed based on ethnicity, cancer type and the detection method of genotype. Publication bias (Begg’s test and Egger’s test) analyses and sensitivity analyses were used to evaluate the reliability of current study. P<0.05 was considered statistically significant. For each significant finding, false-positive report probability (FPRP) analysis was performed using the method reported by Wacholder et al. [15]. We calculated FPRP assuming a prior probability of 0.1 as previously proposed [16]. We set 0.2 as an FPRP threshold and only result with FPRP-value <0.2 was referred as noteworthy [16].

TSA

The poor effect of systematic or random errors may increase due to sparse data, which may eventually mislead results in meta-analyses [17]. In order to get more comprehensive results, TSA (Copenhagen Trial Unit, Denmark, 2011) was utilized. In our current study, an overall type-I error of 5%, a statistical test power of 80% and a 20% relative risk reduction was set up.

Results

Screening process and characteristics of enrolled studies

A total of 342 articles were obtained based on our search strategy. After reading titles and abstracts, 34 articles conformed to our inclusion criteria. After reading full-text, 21 articles were excluded, including 10 that did not describe GC (rs4588 and rs7041) or CYP27B1 (rs4646537, rs3782130) polymorphisms and cancer susceptibility, 2 that did not meet HWE, 4 case only or non-cancer subject only articles, and 5 that not provide detailed genotyping data. Finally, 13 eligible articles including 32 studies (15713 cases and 17304 controls) were enrolled in our current meta-analysis [18–30]. Figure 1 describes the screening process.

Figure 1. Flow chart of the process for study identification and selection.

Figure 1

In general, sixteen studies included Caucasian populations, fourteen studies included Asian populations and two studies included African populations. TaqMan method was used in nine studies, PCR-RFLP method was used in eighteen studies, Illumina method was used in three studies and two studies used the SNPlex assay method. Ten studies reported the effects of GC polymorphisms in breast cancer, eight reported in digestive system tumor, three in non-small cell lung cancer and two in prostate cancer. Six studies reported the effects of CYP27B1 polymorphisms in prostate cancer, two reported in non-small cell lung cancer and one in digestive system tumor. The characteristics of these studies are listed in Table 1.

Table 1. Characteristics of included studies.

First author Year Country Ethnicity Cancer type Control source Genotyping method Cases (AA/AB/BB) Controls (AA/AB/BB) HWE Score
GC (rs4588)
McCullough 2007 U.S.A. Caucasian Breast cancer PB TaqMan 240/202/48 246/186/44 0.307 12
Anderson 2011 Canada Caucasian Breast cancer PB PCR-RFLP 792/608/135 846/642/120 0.906 10
Zhou-1 2012 China Asian Hepatocellular carcinoma HB PCR-RFLP 101/111/25 142/148/25 0.110 7
Zhou-2 2012 China Asian Esophageal cancer HB PCR-RFLP 148/108/33 159/144/34 0.868 7
Zhou-3 2012 China Asian Gastric cancer HB PCR-RFLP 74/89/29 88/92/24 0.995 6
Zhou-4 2012 China Asian Colorectal cancer HB PCR-RFLP 113/100/33 182/134/15 0.117 7
Reimers 2015 U.S.A. Caucasian Breast cancer PB TaqMan 456/402/82 514/393/84 0.471 10
Deschasaux 2016 France Caucasian Breast cancer PB TaqMan 101/89/30 227/181/42 0.498 8
Deschasaux 2016 France Caucasian Prostate cancer PB TaqMan 82/63/20 71/43/10 0.344 7
Wu 2016 China Asian Non-small cell lung cancer PB PCR-RFLP 235/173/37 230/170/26 0.462 10
GC (rs7041)
McCullough 2007 U.S.A. Caucasian Breast cancer PB TaqMan 154/237/103 149/235/106 0.460 12
Anderson 2011 Canada Caucasian Breast cancer PB PCR-RFLP 288/782/558 486/760/309 0.703 10
Zhou-1 2012 China Asian Hepatocellular carcinoma HB PCR-RFLP 117/98/22 152/139/24 0.311 7
Zhou-2 2012 China Asian Esophageal cancer HB PCR-RFLP 148/119/22 188/128/21 0.899 7
Zhou-3 2012 China Asian Gastric cancer HB PCR-RFLP 99/89/16 98/86/10 0.105 6
Zhou-4 2012 China Asian Colorectal cancer HB PCR-RFLP 123/107/16 171/132/28 0.724 7
Kong 2014 China Asian Non-small cell lung cancer PB TaqMan 272/339/50 329/240/34 0.254 10
Wang-1 2014 Spain Caucasian Breast cancer PB Illumina 203/402/221 216/362/201 0.050 13
Wang-2 2014 Non-Spain Caucasian Breast cancer PB Illumina 42/61/27 73/116/35 0.320 11
Clendenen 2015 Sweden Caucasian Breast cancer PB Illumina 265/348/121 546/658/229 0.193 9
Reimers 2015 U.S.A. Caucasian Breast cancer PB TaqMan 239/470/186 311/474/193 0.609 10
Deschasaux 2016 France Caucasian Prostate cancer PB TaqMan 19/63/45 39/76/50 0.337 7
Wu 2016 China Asian Non-small cell lung cancer PB PCR-RFLP 173/225/47 175/230/61 0.281 10
CYP27B1 (rs4646537)
Holick 2007 U.S.A. Caucasian Prostate cancer PB SNPlex assay 546/38/0 497/43/2 0.310 14
Holt-1 2009 U.S.A. Caucasian Prostate cancer PB PCR-RFLP 319/324/61 314/325/77 0.601 10
Holt-2 2009 U.S.A. African Prostate cancer PB PCR-RFLP 85/28/2 50/16/1 0.826 7
CYP27B1 (rs3782130)
Holick 2007 U.S.A. Caucasian Prostate cancer PB SNPlex assay 260/251/75 260/229/61 0.327 14
Holt-1 2009 U.S.A. Caucasian Prostate cancer PB PCR-RFLP 637/50/2 636/52/0 0.303 10
Holt-2 2009 U.S.A. African Prostate cancer PB PCR-RFLP 97/15/2 54/8/1 0.298 7
Kong 2014 China Asian Non-small cell lung cancer PB TaqMan 229/297/77 230/371/120 0.150 10
Mahmoudi 2014 Iran Asian Colorectal cancer HB PCR-RFLP 144/125/34 180/138/36 0.216 6
Wu 2016 China Asian Non-small cell lung cancer PB PCR-RFLP 194/149/83 187/163/45 0.300 10

Abbreviations: A, wild type; B, mutated type; HB, hospital-based control; PB, publication-based control.

Meta-analysis and TSA of rs7041

Nine publications including thirteen studies with 6916 cases and 7870 controls examined rrs7041 polymorphism. As shown in Table 2, we found that rs7041 polymorphism significantly increased cancer risk in four models: dominant (OR = 1.22, 95% CI = 1.03–1.44, P=0.019), recessive (OR = 1.27, 95% CI = 1.02–1.58, P=0.030), homozygote (OR = 1.41, 95% CI = 1.06–1.88, P=0.017, Figure 2A), and allele (OR = 1.17, 95% CI = 1.02–1.33, P=0.022) models. When studies were stratified by ethnicity, significant associations were found in Asians (recessive, OR = 1.40, 95% CI = 1.11–1.77, P=0.005; homozygote, OR = 1.52, 95% CI = 1.19–1.93, P=0.001; heterozygote, OR = 1.28, 95% CI = 1.00–1.63, P=0.047; Allele, OR = 1.20, 95% CI = 1.09–1.32, P=0.000). Stratification analyses of cancer type indicated that rs7041 polymorphism increased the risk of non-small cell lung cancer (recessive, OR = 1.73, 95% CI = 1.05–2.84, P=0.031, Figure 2B; homozygote, OR = 1.97, 95% CI = 1.38–2.81, P=0.000; allele, OR = 1.32, 95% CI = 1.09–1.60, P=0.004). Moreover, our data indicated that rs7041 polymorphism was also significantly associated with an increased risk of cancer in the studies with publication-based controls. The FPRP values for significant findings at different prior probability levels are shown in Supplementary Table S3. With the assumption of prior probability of 0.1, these statistically significant associations were noteworthy (FPRP-value <0.2) for overall cancer risk (dominant and allele models), Asians (recessive, homozygote and allele models), non-small cell lung cancer (homozygote and allele models) and PCR-RFLP (heterozygote model) subgroups.

Table 2. Meta-analysis of associations between the rs7041 polymorphism and cancer risk.

Model Overall and Stratification analyses Number of studies Number of cases/controls OR (95% CI) P-value Random/Fixed effect model P for heterogeneity I2 (%)
Dominant Overall 13 6916/7870 1.22 (1.03, 1.44) 0.019 Random 0.000 80.0
Caucasian 7 4834/5624 1.25 (0.96, 1.63) 0.092 Random 0.000 87.3
Asian 6 2082/2246 1.19 (0.98, 1.45) 0.077 Random 0.030 59.7
Breast cancer 6 4707/5459 1.21 (0.92, 1.60) 0.179 Random 0.000 89.2
Digestive system tumor 4 976/1177 1.08 (0.91, 1.28) 0.364 Fixed 0.811 0
Non-small cell lung cancer 2 1106/1069 1.38 (0.89, 2.14) 0.150 Random 0.012 84.1
Prostate cancer 1 127/165 1.76 (0.96, 3.22) 0.067 Fixed - -
PB 9 5940/6693 1.28 (1.04, 1.59) 0.023 Random 0.000 85.2
HB 4 976/1177 1.08 (0.91, 1.28) 0.364 Fixed 0.811 0
PCR-RFLP 6 3049/3198 1.23 (0.90, 1.68) 0.198 Random 0.000 86.2
TaqMan 4 2177/2236 1.29 (0.95, 1.75) 0.102 Random 0.002 79.3
Illumina 3 1690/2436 1.11 (0.97, 1.28) 0.119 Fixed 0.796 0
High quality (>9) 7 5079/5095 1.28 (0.99, 1.64) 0.057 Random 0.000 87.5
Low quality (≤9) 6 1837/2775 1.11 (0.98, 1.25) 0.104 Fixed 0.653 0
Recessive Overall 13 6916/7870 1.27 (1.02, 1.58) 0.030 Random 0.000 79.2
Caucasian 7 4834/5624 1.21 (0.91, 1.62) 0.192 Random 0.000 88.0
Asian 6 2082/2246 1.40 (1.11, 1.77) 0.005 Fixed 0.179 35.2
Breast cancer 6 4707/5459 1.21 (0.88, 1.66) 0.248 Random 0.000 90.0
Digestive system tumor 4 976/1177 1.16 (0.84, 1.61) 0.377 Fixed 0.356 7.4
Non-small cell lung cancer 2 1106/1069 1.73 (1.05, 2.84) 0.031 Random 0.153 51.1
Prostate cancer 1 127/165 1.26 (0.77, 2.07) 0.354 Fixed - -
PB 9 5940/6693 1.30 (1.01, 1.68) 0.045 Random 0.000 85.1
HB 4 976/1177 1.16 (0.84, 1.61) 0.377 Fixed 0.356 7.4
PCR-RFLP 6 3049/3198 1.55 (1.10, 2.19) 0.013 Random 0.017 63.8
TaqMan 4 2177/2236 1.06 (0.90, 1.24) 0.497 Fixed 0.498 0
Illumina 3 1690/2436 1.07 (0.91, 1.25) 0.400 Fixed 0.589 0
High quality (>9) 7 5079/5095 1.35 (0.99, 1.85) 0.055 Random 0.000 87.6
Low quality (≤9) 6 1837/2775 1.10 (0.92, 1.32) 0.298 Fixed 0.571 0
Homozygote Overall 13 6916/7870 1.41 (1.06, 1.88) 0.017 Random 0.000 84.5
Caucasian 7 4834/5624 1.38 (0.92, 2.07) 0.124 Random 0.000 91.5
Asian 6 2082/2246 1.52 (1.19, 1.93) 0.001 Fixed 0.203 31.1
Breast cancer 6 4707/5459 1.33 (0.85, 2.06) 0.213 Random 0.000 92.9
Digestive system tumor 4 976/1177 1.19 (0.85, 1.67) 0.315 Fixed 0.420 0
Non-small cell lung cancer 2 1106/1069 1.97 (1.38, 2.81) 0.000 Fixed 0.514 0
Prostate cancer 1 127/165 1.85 (0.94, 3.65) 0.077 Fixed - -
PB 9 5940/6693 1.49 (1.05, 2.09) 0.024 Random 0.000 89.0
HB 4 976/1177 1.19 (0.85, 1.67) 0.315 Fixed 0.420 51.1
PCR-RFLP 6 3049/3198 1.66 (1.03, 2.69) 0.039 Random 0.000 79.7
TaqMan 4 2177/2236 1.25 (0.92, 1.69) 0.157 Random 0.078 56
Illumina 3 1690/2436 1.14 (0.96, 1.37) 0.145 Fixed 0.816 0
High quality (>9) 7 5079/5095 1.52 (0.99, 2.30) 0.052 Random 0.000 90.7
Low quality (≤9) 6 1837/2775 1.17 (0.96, 1.43) 0.116 Fixed 0.435 0
Heterozygote Overall 13 6916/7870 1.18 (0.98, 1.43) 0.081 Random 0.000 68.4
Caucasian 7 4834/5624 1.14 (0.90, 1.45) 0.279 Random 0.000 79.1
Asian 6 2082/2246 1.28 (1.00, 1.63) 0.047 Fixed 0.103 45.3
Breast cancer 6 4707/5459 1.15 (0.88, 1.49) 0.303 Random 0.000 82.5
Digestive system tumor 4 976/1177 1.12 (0.80, 1.58) 0.508 Fixed 0.322 14.0
Non-small cell lung cancer 2 1106/1069 1.52 (0.70, 3.29) 0.285 Random 0.032 78.4
Prostate cancer 1 127/165 1.09 (0.64, 1.83) 0.758 Fixed - -
PB 9 5940/6693 1.20 (0.96, 1.49) 0.110 Random 0.000 76.6
HB 4 976/1177 1.12 (0.80, 1.58) 0.508 Fixed 0.322 14.0
PCR-RFLP 6 3049/3198 1.48 (1.09, 2.01) 0.013 Random 0.071 50.7
TaqMan 4 2177/2236 0.99 (0.84, 1.17) 0.904 Fixed 0.975 0
Illumina 3 1690/2436 1.03 (0.87, 1.21) 0.769 Fixed 0.463 0
High quality (>9) 7 5079/5095 1.25 (0.96, 1.63) 0.103 Random 0.000 80.6
Low quality (≤9) 6 1837/2775 1.05 (0.86, 1.27) 0.639 Fixed 0.580 0
Allele Overall 13 6916/7870 1.17 (1.02, 1.33) 0.022 Random 0.000 85.2
Caucasian 7 4834/5624 1.17 (0.95, 1.44) 0.133 Random 0.000 91.7
Asian 6 2082/2246 1.20 (1.09, 1.32) 0.000 Fixed 0.137 40.2
Breast cancer 6 4707/5459 1.15 (0.92, 1.44) 0.217 Random 0.000 93.1
Digestive system tumor 4 976/1177 1.08 (0.94, 1.23) 0.283 Fixed 0.750 0
Non-small cell lung cancer 2 1106/1069 1.32 (1.09, 1.60) 0.004 Random 0.144 53.1
Prostate cancer 1 127/165 1.33 (0.95, 1.85) 0.096 Fixed - -
PB 9 5940/6693 1.20 (1.02, 1.42) 0.029 Random 0.000 89.4
HB 4 976/1177 1.08 (0.94, 1.23) 0.283 Fixed 0.750 0
PCR-RFLP 6 3049/3198 1.21 (0.95, 1.53) 0.121 Random 0.000 87.0
TaqMan 4 2177/2236 1.16 (0.96, 1.41) 0.130 Random 0.004 77.6
Illumina 3 1690/2436 1.07 (0.98, 1.17) 0.128 Fixed 0.919 0
High quality (>9) 7 5079/5095 1.21 (0.99, 1.48) 0.057 Random 0.000 91.1
Low quality (≤9) 6 1837/2775 1.08 (0.99, 1.18) 0.086 Fixed 0.728 0

Abbreviations: HB, hospital-based control; PB, publication-based control. Bold values are statistically significant (P<0.05).

Figure 2. Meta-analysis for the association between rs7041 polymorphism and cancer risk.

Figure 2

(A) Overall comparison (homozygote model); (B) stratification analysis by cancer type (recessive model).

As shown in Figure 3A, although the total number of cases did not exceed the O’Brien–Fleming boundary, the cumulative Z-curve exceeded the test sequence monitoring boundary, which verified that rs7041 was significantly associated with cancer susceptibility.

Figure 3. TSAs of the association between rs4588, rs7041, rs3782130 and rs4646537 polymorphisms (dominant model) and cancer risk.

Figure 3

(A) rs7041; (B) rs4588; (C) rs3782130; (D) rs4646537.

Meta-analysis and TSA of rs4588

Seven publications including ten studies with 4759 cases and 5262 controls examined rs4588 polymorphism. As shown in Table 3, we found that rs4588 polymorphism significantly increased cancer risk in all five models: dominant (OR = 1.10, 95% CI = 1.02–1.19, P=0.016), recessive (OR = 1.27, 95% CI = 1.11–1.46, P=0.001), homozygote (OR = 1.31, 95% CI = 1.13–1.51, P=0.000, Figure 4A), heterozygote (OR = 1.23, 95% CI = 1.06–1.42, P=0.005), and allele (OR = 1.11, 95% CI = 1.05–1.18, P=0.001) models. Stratification analyses indicated that rs4588 polymorphism significantly increased cancer risk in Caucasians (dominant, OR = 1.10, 95% CI = 1.01–1.21, P=0.040; recessive, OR = 1.17, 95% CI = 1.00–1.39, P=0.049; homozygote, OR = 1.22, 95% CI = 1.02–1.45, P=0.026; allele, OR = 1.10, 95% CI = 1.02–1.18, P=0.015) and Asians (recessive, OR = 1.51, 95% CI = 1.18–1.94, P=0.001; homozygote, OR = 1.56, 95% CI = 1.06–2.29, P=0.024; heterozygote, OR = 1.51, 95% CI = 1.16–1.96, P=0.002, Figure 4B). When studies were stratified by cancer type, significant associations were found in breast cancer (dominant, OR = 1.10, 95% CI = 1.00–1.21, P=0.046; homozygote, OR = 1.20, 95% CI = 1.00–1.43, P=0.047; allele, OR = 1.09, 95% CI = 1.01–1.17, P=0.030) and digestive system tumor (recessive, OR = 1.58, 95% CI = 1.02–2.46, P=0.042; heterozygote, OR = 1.54, 95% CI = 1.15–2.08, P=0.004), but not in prostate cancer and non-small cell lung cancer. Moreover, when studies were stratified by quality score, an increased cancer risk was observed in high quality subgroup in all five genetic models. When studies were stratified by control source and genotyping method, significant associations were found in publication-based controls, hospital-based controls and PCR-RFLP method, but not in TaqMan method. The FPRP values for significant findings at different prior probability levels are shown in Supplementary Table S4. With the assumption of prior probability of 0.1, these statistically significant associations were noteworthy for overall cancer risk (in all five models), Caucasians (homozygote and allele models), Asians (recessive and heterozygote models), digestive system tumor (heterozygote model), breast cancer (allele model) publication-based controls (homozygote and allele models), PCR-RFLP (recessive, homozygote, heterozygote and allele models) and high quality (in all five models) subgroups.

Table 3. Meta-analysis of associations between the rs4588 polymorphism and cancer risk.

Model Overall and Stratification analyses Number of studies Number of cases/controls OR (95% CI) P-value Random/Fixed effect model P for heterogeneity I2 (%)
Dominant Overall 10 4759/5262 1.10 (1.02, 1.19) 0.016 Fixed 0.614 0
Caucasian 5 3350/3649 1.10 (1.01, 1.21) 0.040 Fixed 0.770 0
Asian 5 1409/1613 1.10 (0.95, 1.27) 0.214 Fixed 0.248 26.0
Breast cancer 4 3185/3525 1.10 (1.00, 1.21) 0.046 Fixed 0.791 0
Digestive system tumor 4 964/1187 1.12 (0.94, 1.32) 0.210 Fixed 0.154 42.9
Prostate cancer 1 165/124 1.36 (0.85, 2.17) 0.203 Fixed - -
Non-small cell lung cancer 1 445/426 1.05 (0.80, 1.37) 0.727 Fixed - -
PB 6 3795/4075 1.10 (1.00, 1.20) 0.040 Fixed 0.857 0
HB 4 964/1187 1.12 (0.94, 1.32) 0.210 Fixed 0.154 42.9
PCR-RFLP 6 2944/3221 1.07 (0.97, 1.18) 0.202 Fixed 0.342 11.4
TaqMan 4 1815/2041 1.16 (0.98, 1.32) 0.083 Fixed 0.899 0
High quality (>9) 4 3410/3501 1.16 (1.02, 1.32) 0.047 Fixed 0.314 15.5
Low quality (≤9) 6 1349/1761 1.08 (0.98, 1.19) 0.109 Fixed 0.859 0
Recessive Overall 10 4759/5262 1.27 (1.11, 1.46) 0.001 Fixed 0.204 26.1
Caucasian 5 3350/3649 1.17 (1.00, 1.39) 0.049 Fixed 0.652 0
Asian 5 1409/1613 1.51 (1.18, 1.94) 0.001 Fixed 0.128 44.1
Breast cancer 4 3185/3525 1.16 (0.98, 1.37) 0.092 Fixed 0.588 0
Digestive system tumor 4 964/1187 1.58 (1.02, 2.46) 0.042 Random 0.070 57.5
Prostate cancer 1 165/124 1.57 (0.71, 3.49) 0.266 Fixed - -
Non-small cell lung cancer 1 445/426 1.40 (0.83, 2.35) 0.210 Fixed - -
PB 6 3795/4075 1.19 (1.02, 1.40) 0.029 Fixed 0.724 0
HB 4 964/1187 1.58 (1.02, 2.46) 0.042 Random 0.070 57.5
PCR-RFLP 6 2944/3221 1.35 (1.13, 1.61) 0.001 Fixed 0.121 42.6
TaqMan 4 1815/2041 1.16 (0.93, 1.44) 0.189 Fixed 0.488 0
High quality (>9) 4 3410/3501 1.55 (1.23, 1.96) 0.000 Fixed 0.216 29.2
Low quality (≤9) 6 1349/1761 1.14 (0.96, 1.36) 0.121 Fixed 0.758 0
Homozygote Overall 10 4759/5262 1.31 (1.13, 1.51) 0.000 Fixed 0.173 29.6
Caucasian 5 3350/3649 1.22 (1.02, 1.45) 0.026 Fixed 0.683 0
Asian 5 1409/1613 1.56 (1.06, 2.29) 0.024 Random 0.072 53.4
Breast cancer 4 3185/3525 1.20 (1.00, 1.43) 0.047 Fixed 0.671 0
Digestive system tumor 4 964/1187 1.62 (0.98, 2.68) 0.061 Random 0.037 64.5
Prostate cancer 1 165/124 1.73 (0.76, 3.94) 0.191 Fixed - -
Non-small cell lung cancer 1 445/426 1.39 (0.82, 2.38) 0.224 Fixed - -
PB 6 3795/4075 1.23 (1.05, 1.45) 0.013 Fixed 0.775 0
HB 4 964/1187 1.62 (0.98, 2.68) 0.061 Random 0.037 64.5
PCR-RFLP 6 2944/3221 1.45 (1.08, 1.94) 0.014 Random 0.072 50.5
TaqMan 4 1815/2041 1.23 (0.98, 1.54) 0.077 Fixed 0.518 0
High quality (>9) 4 3410/3501 1.59 (1.25, 2.04) 0.000 Fixed 0.130 41.3
Low quality (≤9) 6 1349/1761 1.18 (0.99, 1.40) 0.069 Fixed 0.892 0
Heterozygote Overall 10 4759/5262 1.23 (1.06, 1.42) 0.005 Fixed 0.314 14.0
Caucasian 5 3350/3649 1.12 (0.94, 1.34) 0.203 Fixed 0.662 0
Asian 5 1409/1613 1.51 (1.16, 1.96) 0.002 Fixed 0.305 17.2
Breast cancer 4 3185/3525 1.11 (0.93, 1.33) 0.251 Fixed 0.534 0
Digestive system tumor 4 964/1187 1.54 (1.15, 2.08) 0.004 Fixed 0.191 36.8
Prostate cancer 1 165/124 1.37 (0.58, 3.20) 0.474 Fixed - -
Non-small cell lung cancer 1 445/426 1.40 (0.81, 2.41) 0.227 Fixed - -
PB 6 3795/4075 1.15 (0.97, 1.35) 0.113 Fixed 0.704 0
HB 4 964/1187 1.24 (0.99, 1.65) 0.127 Fixed 0.191 36.8
PCR-RFLP 6 2944/3221 1.34 (1.12, 1.62) 0.002 Fixed 0.279 20.5
TaqMan 4 1815/2041 1.07 (0.85, 1.35) 0.546 Fixed 0.552 0
High quality (>9) 4 3410/3501 1.51 (1.18, 1.93) 0.001 Fixed 0.438 0
Low quality (≤9) 6 1349/1761 1.11 (0.92, 1.32) 0.272 Fixed 0.593 0
Allele Overall 10 4759/5262 1.11 (1.05, 1.18) 0.001 Fixed 0.284 17.3
Caucasian 5 3350/3649 1.10 (1.02, 1.18) 0.015 Fixed 0.685 0
Asian 5 1409/1613 1.15 (0.99, 1.35) 0.077 Random 0.086 50.9
Breast cancer 4 3185/3525 1.09 (1.01, 1.17) 0.030 Fixed 0.764 0
Digestive system tumor 4 964/1187 1.18 (0.95, 1.45) 0.131 Random 0.049 61.8
Prostate cancer 1 165/124 1.33 (0.92, 1.93) 0.127 Fixed - -
Non-small cell lung cancer 1 445/426 1.09 (0.88, 1.35) 0.425 Fixed - -
PB 6 3795/4075 1.10 (1.02, 1.17) 0.010 Fixed 0.809 0
HB 4 964/1187 1.18 (0.95, 1.45) 0.131 Random 0.049 61.8
PCR-RFLP 6 2944/3221 1.10 (1.02, 1.19) 0.014 Fixed 0.104 45.3
TaqMan 4 1815/2041 1.13 (0.97, 1.25) 0.087 Random 0.085 50.6
High quality (>9) 4 3410/3501 1.19 (1.07, 1.33) 0.001 Fixed 0.137 40.0
Low quality (≤9) 6 1349/1761 1.08 (0.99, 1.16) 0.054 Fixed 0.988 0

Abbreviations: HB, hospital-based control; PB, publication-based control. Bold values are statistically significant (P<0.05).

Figure 4. Meta-analysis for the association between rs4588 polymorphism and cancer risk.

Figure 4

(A) Overall comparison (homozygote model); (B) stratification analysis by ethnicity (heterozygote model).

To analyze the reliability of our results, we performed a TSA. As shown in Figure 3B, the cumulative number of cases did not meet the O’Brien–Fleming boundary and test sequence monitoring boundary. Current TSA results suggested that more sample size was still needed for more robust results.

Meta-analysis and TSA of rs4646537 and rs3782130

Two publications including three studies with 1403 cases and 1325 controls examined rs4646537 polymorphism; five publications including six studies with 2721 cases and 2761 controls examined rs3782130 polymorphism. As shown in Supplementary Table S5, we found these two polymorphisms were not associated with cancer risk.

As for rs4646537 and rs3782130, the cumulative number of cases did not exceed the O’Brien–Fleming boundary and test sequence monitoring boundary (Figure 3C,D). Therefore, more sample sizes were still needed for more robust results.

Publication bias and sensitivity analysis

As showed in Supplementary Figure S1 and Table 4, Begg’s and Egger’s tests indicated that there was no evidence of significant publication bias in our current meta-analysis. Sensitivity analysis found that none of the single study significantly changed the final conclusion (Supplementary Figure S2).

Table 4. Begg’s and Egger’s tests for publication bias.

Model rs4588 rs7041 rs4646537 rs3782130
PBegg PEgger PBegg PEgger PBegg PEgger PBegg PEgger
Dominant 0.669 0.573 0.502 0.221 0.602 0.838 0.707 0.727
Recessive 0.132 0.119 0.200 0.498 0.546 0.588 0.310 0.945
Homozygote 0.231 0.124 0.161 0.362 0.573 0.597 0.452 0.833
Heterozygote 0.107 0.132 0.127 0.722 1.000 0.562 0.348 0.736
Allele 0.208 0.130 0.200 0.166 0.609 0.721 0.851 0.947

Discussion

It has long been clear that genetics has the ability to intervene in the cancer risk in the coming decades. Since polymorphism is the most important cause of human genetic material and information variation, the specific relationship between polymorphisms and cancer susceptibility has attracted widespread attention. With the rapid development of medical science and technology, the field of tumor genetic susceptibility has gradually attracted great interest, and the research on tumor genetic polymorphism is also increasing. Genetic polymorphisms involving the vitamin D pathway has become an important class of genes in the extensive study of polymorphisms in risk factors associated with malignant tumors.

CYP27B1 and GC are two important enzymes involved in vitamin D binding and transport. Nowadays, a growing body of evidence suggests that differential expression of CYP27B1 and GC may play an important role in carcinogenesis development. Reduced CYP27B1 gene expression level has been found in various tumors, including prostate cancer [31–32], non-small cell lung cancer [23]. Whitlatch et al. [32] investigated CYP27B1 expression in normal prostate, prostatic hyperplasia and prostate cancer, and they found that normal prostate exhibited the highest expression of CYP27B1, while its expression was decreased in the following order: prostatic hyperplasia and prostate cancer. These findings suggest that the malignant progression of prostate tissue certainly reduces CYP27B1 expression. Furthermore, Kong et al. [23] found that non-small cell lung cancer patients with high CYP27B1 expression had better overall survival than those with low CYP27B1, which indicated that low CYP27B1 expression was also correlated with a poorer prognosis. In addition, there are two common single nucleotide polymorphisms (rs7041 and rs4588) in GC gene. In the previous reports, genetic variants in the GC gene, including rs7041 and rs4588, have been investigated in breast cancer [18–19,22,25], non-small cell lung cancer [21], prostate cancer [26] and digestive system tumor [27]. However, to date, there is no systematic evaluation on how CYP27B1 and GC polymorphisms are involved in development of cancers.

Our data found that rs4588 was significantly associated with an increased risk of cancer susceptibility, and current result was confirmed by FPRP and TSA analyses. Among these studies, there were four studies on breast cancer, four on digestive system tumor, one on prostate cancer and one on non-small cell lung cancer. Stratified analyses by cancer type revealed a significant association between rs4588 and breast cancer and digestive system tumor, but not in prostate cancer and non-small cell lung cancer. However, our outcomes were different from the results shown by Anderson et al. [18], McCullough et al. [19], Reimers et al. [22], and Deschasaux et al. [25], who demonstrated that rs4588 polymorphism was not associated with breast cancer. This discrepancy may be caused by the limited sample size. Anderson et al. [18] included only 3143 subjects (1535 cases and 1608 controls), McCullough et al. [19] included only 966 subjects (490 cases and 476 controls), Reimers et al. [22] included only 1931 subjects (940 cases and 991 controls), Deschasaux et al. [25] included only 670 subjects (220 cases and 450 controls), which may lack sufficient power to support or deny an association. Previous studies also focused on the relationship between the rs4588 and digestive system tumor. However, our outcomes were different from previous study [27], which indicated that rs4588 polymorphism was not associated with hepatocellular carcinoma, esophageal cancer and gastric cancer. Possible reasons for this difference could be explained as the limited sample size. There was only one study for hepatocellular carcinoma, esophageal cancer and gastric cancer, which was far from enough to obtain trustworthy results. Based on current TSA results, more studies by standardized unbiased methods are required to offer more detailed data.

As for rs7041, we found that this polymorphism significantly increased cancer risk. Stratification analyses of ethnicity suggested rs7041 increased cancer risk in Asians, but not in Caucasians. Possible reasons can be explained as the different genetic backgrounds of cancer across ethnicities. In this meta-analysis, the pooled rs7041 C allele frequency of the controls showed a large difference across ethnicities (Asians: 30.2%; Caucasians: 45.4%), which may possibly affect the relationships between rs7041 polymorphism and cancer risk among different racial subgroups. Moreover, when studies were stratified by cancer type, we also found that rs7041 polymorphism was significantly associated with an increased risk in the non-small cell lung cancer. However, most subgroups had insufficient numbers, which may attenuate the statistical power. Our results were partially consistent with the consequence of the study by Wang et al. [20], which reported that there was no significant association between rs7041 and breast cancer in Asians and Caucasians. However, study by Reimers et al [22]. suggested that rs7041 was associated with an increased risk of breast cancer in Caucasians. It is noteworthy that Yao et al. [33] indicated that increased polymorphism may be related to the higher prevalence of estrogen receptor (ER)-negative but not ER-positive breast cancer. At present, a large number of researches indicated that there were important differences in genetic susceptibility between ER-negative and ER-positive breast cancer [11]. Therefore, it is reasonable to hypothesize that rs7041 polymorphism may have a specific effect on the susceptibility to ER-negative breast cancer. Of note, due to limited data, lack of further evaluation between rs7041 and ER-negative and ER-positive breast cancer prevented our comprehensive understanding. Further large-cohort and well-designed studies are necessary to identify the possible association between them. With respect to the remaining two polymorphisms, we failed to find any associations between rs4646537 and rs3782130 and cancer risk. Given the limited sample size, our results should be interpreted with caution.

In general, current analysis has the following advantages: (1) Our research results were validated based on TSA to ensure the reliability of the results. (2) All included studies were consistent with the HWE balance law, which may improve the reliability of our study. (3): This system evaluation is the first analysis of reviewing the relationships between CYP27B1 (rs4646537, rs3782130) and GC (rs4588 and rs7041) polymorphisms with cancer susceptibility. (4) To avoid false positive findings, FPRP analyses were used for all significant findings observed in our study. However, current study still has the following shortcomings: (1) The subjects we included were limited to Caucasians and Asians, and the results of the present study still lack information from other ethnic groups, which may lead to publication bias. (2) The number of studies on rs4646537, rs3782130, rs4588 and rs7041 was relatively small in some subgroups, which may create significant or insignificant results by chance. (3) In some included studies, detailed information (e.g., radiation exposure, carcinogen, smoking and other risk factors) was not gathered, which further prevented the stratification analyses. Thus, a larger sample size, multi-racial, multi-center standardized research is needed to provide more detailed data in the future.

Conclusions

In conclusion, this systematical meta-analysis indicated that rs4588 and rs7041 polymorphisms play important roles in cancer pathogenesis, especially in non-small cell lung cancer, breast cancer and digestive system tumor, which were noteworthy findings as evaluated by FPRP. However, the other two polymorphisms (rs4646537 and rs3782130) are not associated with cancer risk. Further well-designed studies are necessary to validate our results.

Supporting information

Supplementary Figure S1. Begg’s test for publication bias (dominant model).

A rs4588; B rs7041; C rs3782130; D rs4646537

bsr20190368_Supp1.pdf (713.2KB, pdf)

Supplementary Figure S2. Sensitivity analyses of the studies (allele model).

A rs4588; B rs7041; C rs4646537; D rs3782130

bsr20190368_Supp1.pdf (713.2KB, pdf)

Supplementary Table S1. The detailed search strategies of the associations between GC (rs4588, rs7041), CYP27B1 (rs4646537, and rs3782130) polymorphisms and cancer risk.

bsr20190368_Supp1.pdf (713.2KB, pdf)

Supplementary Table S2. Score of quality assessment.

bsr20190368_Supp1.pdf (713.2KB, pdf)

Supplementary Table S3. False-positive report probability values for associations between the rs7041 polymorphism and cancer risk.

bsr20190368_Supp1.pdf (713.2KB, pdf)

Supplementary Table S4. False-positive report probability values for associations between the rs4588 polymorphism and cancer risk.

bsr20190368_Supp1.pdf (713.2KB, pdf)

Supplementary Table S5. Meta-analysis of associations between rs4646537 and rs3782130 polymorphisms and cancer risk.

bsr20190368_Supp1.pdf (713.2KB, pdf)

Abbreviations

CI

confidence interval

CNKI

China national knowledge infrastructure

EMBASE

excerpta medica database

ER

estrogen receptor

FPRP

false-positive report probability

GC

group-specific component

HWE

Hardy–Weinberg equilibrium

MAF

minor allele frequency

OR

odds ratio

PCR-RFLP

polymerase chain reaction-restrictionfragment length polymorphism

SNP

single nucleotide polymorphism

TSA

trial sequential analysis

Competing Interests

The authors declare that there are no competing interests associated with the manuscript.

Author Contribution

M.Z., Z.z.L., Z.T., H.W. and Z.x. L. performed the research design. T.W. and H.H. assessed the studies quality and data collection. M.Z. and S.F. performed the sensitive analysis and publication bias test. M.Z., Z.T. and Z.x.L. wrote the paper. All authors confirmed the final edition.

Funding

This work was supported by the Key Project of Natural Sciences Foundation of Hubei Province [grant number 2015CFA078]; the Research Fund of Wuhan Public Health Bureau [grant numbers WX15A12, WX17Q10, WX18Y11]; and the Research Fund of Hubei Province Public Health Bureau [grant number WJ2015MB144].

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