Brief Article
Copyright ©2011 Baishideng Publishing Group Co., Limited. All rights reserved.
World J Gastroenterol. May 7, 2011; 17(17): 2248-2254
Published online May 7, 2011. doi: 10.3748/wjg.v17.i17.2248
Specific HLA-DQB1 alleles associated with risk for development of hepatocellular carcinoma: A meta-analysis
Yong-Ning Xin, Zhong-Hua Lin, Xiang-Jun Jiang, Shu-Hui Zhan, Quan-Jiang Dong, Qing Wang, Shi-Ying Xuan
Yong-Ning Xin, Xiang-Jun Jiang, Shu-Hui Zhan, Quan-Jiang Dong, Qing Wang, Shi-Ying Xuan, Department of Gastroenterology, Qingdao Municipal Hospital, Qingdao 266071, Shandong Province, China
Zhong-Hua Lin, School of Medicine, Qingdao University, Qingdao 266021, Shandong Province, China
Yong-Ning Xin, Shi-Ying Xuan, College of Medicine and Pharmaceutics, Ocean University of China, Qingdao 266003, Shandong Province, China
Author contributions: Xin YN, Lin ZH and Xuan SY conceived and designed the experiments; Xin YN, Lin ZH, Xuan SY, Jiang XJ and Zhan SH analyzed the data; Xin YN, Lin ZH, Xuan SY, Dong QJ and Wang Q provided reagents, materials and analysis tools; Xin YN, Lin ZH and Xuan SY wrote the paper.
Supported by Shandong Provincial Natural Science Foundation, China, No. ZR2009CQ031
Correspondence to: Shi-Ying Xuan, PhD, Professor, Department of Gastroenterology, Qingdao Municipal Hospital, Qingdao 266071, Shandong Province, China
Telephone: +86-532-88905508 Fax: +86-532-82836421
Received: September 10, 2010
Revised: December 9, 2010
Accepted: December 16, 2010
Published online: May 7, 2011
Abstract

AIM: To evaluate the association of human leukocyte antigen (HLA)-DQB1 alleles with hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) through meta-analysis of published data.

METHODS: Case-control studies on HLA-DQB1 allele association with HCC published up to January 2010 were included in the analyses. The odds ratios (ORs) of HLA-DQB1 allele distributions in HCC patients were analyzed and compared with healthy controls. The meta-analysis software REVMAN 5.0 was applied for investigating heterogeneity among individual studies and for summarizing all the studies. A meta-analysis was performed using fixed-effect or random-effect methods, depending on the absence or presence of significant heterogeneity. Seven case-control studies containing 398 cases and 594 controls were included in the final analysis.

RESULTS: Among the five family alleles, two (DQB1*02 and DQB1*03) were found to be significantly associated with the risk of HCC. The combined OR for the association of DQB1*02 and DQB1*03 allele with the risk for HCC was 1.78 (95% CI: 1.05-3.03, P = 0.03) and 0.65 (95% CI: 0.48-0.89, P = 0.007), respectively. Among the 13 specific alleles, two (DQB1*0502 and DQB1*0602) were significantly associated with risk of HCC. The combined OR for the association of DQB1*0502 and DQB1*0602 allele with the risk for HCC was 1.82 (95% CI: 1.14-2.92, P = 0.01) and 0.58 (95% CI: 0.36-0.95, P = 0.03), respectively. No significant association was established for other HLA-DQB1 family alleles and specific alleles.

CONCLUSION: Our results support the hypothesis that specific HLA-DQB1 allele families and alleles might influence the susceptibility or resistance to HCC, although it needs further investigations.

Keywords: Hepatocellular carcinoma; Human leukocyte antigen-DQB1 alleles; Meta-analysis