Abstract
BACKGROUND: According to the relevant reports, TIMP-2 polymorphism might be associated with the susceptibility to gastric cancer. Owing to the inconclusive results from the published studies based on the association between TIMP-2 single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) and gastric cancer susceptibility, a meta-analysis was conducted to investigate the correlation between the TIMP-2 SNPs and the risk of gastric cancer. MATERIALS AND METHODS: PubMed, Embase, CNKI and Wanfang databases were systematically searched to cover all the studies based on the association of two SNPs with the susceptibility to gastric cancer published before April 2016. Pooled odds ratios (ORs) and 95% confidence intervals were calculated for all genetic models. RESULTS: A total of six case-control studies on TIMP-2-418G/C and four studies on TIMP-2-303G/A were included. No obvious association was found between TIMP-2-418G/C polymorphism and the risk of gastric cancer in all the genetic models. On the other hand, TIMP-2-303G/A polymorphism had a significant association with increased risk of gastric cancer in homozygote recessive and allele comparisons, and similar results were observed in subgroups of Asian populations, but there were inadequate data to completely verify the association between TIMP-2-303G/A and gastric cancer. CONCLUSION: TIMP-2-418G/C polymorphism is not correlated with the risk of gastric cancer, while TIMP-2-303G/A is a risk factor for gastric cancer, especially in Asian populations. However, owing to the limited cases, the results of TIMP-2-303G/A should be thoroughly examined and validated with large-scale and well-designed studies.