Abstract
Objective
To investigate the association between potentially functional MDM2 oncogene, E3 ubiquitin protein ligase (
Methods
Two investigators independently searched the PubMed and Chinese National Knowledge Infrastructure databases for studies published before September 2013.
Results
Pooled results showed that the variant homozygous 309GG genotype (versus TT) was significantly associated with increased risk of both oesophageal (odds ratio [OR] 0.77; 95% confidence interval [CI] 0.65, 0.90) and gastric cancer (OR 0.52; 95% CI 0.38, 0.72). Subgroup analysis revealed a 309GG-associated increased risk for both cancer types in Asian populations, particularly among Chinese and Japanese ethnicity. When stratified for
Conclusions
The
Introduction
Gastric and oesophageal cancer represent the second and sixth, respectively, most frequent causes of cancer-related deaths worldwide. 1 Oesophageal cancer is a relatively common upper digestive tract cancer, with distinct geographical distribution characteristics relating to its development. China is a high-incidence area for oesophageal cancer and contributes more than 50% of the world’s newly diagnosed oesophageal cancer cases.2,3 More than 50% of the world’s new gastric cancer cases occur in Asian countries and China alone contributes 42% of newly diagnosed patients with stomach cancer worldwide. 4 It would be beneficial, therefore, to identify risk factors for use in screening high-risk subjects, in order to facilitate prompt detection of these two malignancies.
The tumour suppressor gene, tumour protein p53 (
A number of studies have been conducted to investigate the relationship between
Materials and methods
Literature search strategy
Relevant published studies were identified by searching electronic databases as follows: PubMed (1950–September 2013) and Chinese National Knowledge Infrastructure (1979–September 2013). The following key words were used: (‘
Inclusion and exclusion criteria
Human case–control studies that presented original data relating to the
Data extraction
Two investigators (W.S. and P.H.) independently extracted data from original publications. Discrepancies were resolved by group discussion (among all five coauthors). The information sought from each included study comprised the following: first author’s name; cancer type; publication year; study design; country of origin; ethnicity of the population; source of controls; total number of cases and controls; genotype frequencies of cases and controls. The quality of all included studies was assessed according to a previously published scale for quality assessment. 22
Statistical analyses
Meta-analysis was conducted using RevMan software, version 5.2 (Cochrane Collaboration, Oxford, UK) and STATA® software, version 12.0 (StataCorp LP, College Station, TX, USA); the results are presented as odds ratios (OR) and 95% confidence intervals (CI). Between-study heterogeneity was evaluated with the χ2-test-based
Results
Study characteristics
The literature search identified 286 original articles concerning the association between Flow diagram and outcomes of the process to select studies relating to MDM2 oncogene, E3 ubiquitin protein ligase ( Characteristics of 15 primary studies used in a meta-analysis investigating the association between MDM2 oncogene, E3 ubiquitin protein ligase ( EGC, oesophageal and gastric cancer; HCC, hospital-based case–control study; PCC, population-based case–control study.
Quantitative data synthesis
The combined results based on all studies showed that the variant homozygous 309GG genotype was significantly associated with increased overall risk of gastro-oesophageal cancer, compared with wild-type homozygous 309TT genotype (OR 0.62; 95% CI 0.49, 0.79; Forest plot showing overall meta-analysis for MDM2 oncogene, E3 ubiquitin protein ligase ( Forest plot of gastric cancer susceptibility associated with MDM2 oncogene, E3 ubiquitin protein ligase ( Meta-analysis of the association between MDM2 oncogene, E3 ubiquitin protein ligase ( CI, Confidence interval; EGC, oesophageal and gastric cancer; F, Fixed-effects model; HCC, hospital-based case–control study; PCC, population-based case–control study; OR, Odds ratio; R, Random-effects model. NS, no statistically significant difference ( Meta-analyses of the MDM2 oncogene, E3 ubiquitin protein ligase ( CI, Confidence interval; F, Fixed-effects model; OR, Odds ratio; R, Random-effects model. NS, no statistically significant difference (

In the ethnicity subgroup analysis, G allele carriers of Asian ethnicity were found to have significantly increased risk of both oesophageal and gastric cancer (T versus G: OR 0.85; 95% CI 0.78, 0.93 for oesophageal cancer and OR 0.79; 95% CI 0.70, 0.89 for gastric cancer [Table 2]). For gastric cancer alone, significantly increased risk was observed in patients of Chinese ethnicity, but not in patients of Japanese or Korean ethnicity. No data were available for Japanese or Korean patients in terms of increased risk of oesophageal cancer alone (Table 2). In the gastric cancer subgroup, stratification analyses according to
No evidence of publication bias was observed (All
Discussion
In research, Mdm2 has been identified as a p53-interacting protein that represses p53 transcriptional activity.
28
In a mouse model, modest deviations of Mdm2 protein levels from the equilibrium state were shown to render the p53 pathway chaotic.29,30
To the authors’ knowledge, the present study is the first published meta-analysis regarding an
The incidence of both oesophageal and gastric cancer is high among Eastern Asian populations, especially in people of Chinese ethnicity.
4
Consequently, subgroup analysis was performed by ethnicity in the present study. The association between
The influence of factors such as histological type and
The present meta-analysis is potentially open to some limitations. First, a more precise analysis could be carried out if adjusted estimates were available in all studies. Secondly, although no publication bias was observed, selection bias could have occurred because some unpublished studies were not included in the present study. Thirdly, as with most systematic reviews, the results of the present study should be interpreted with caution because of heterogeneity among the original studies. Fourth, due to the limited number of studies that were suitable for inclusion in the present meta-analysis, more precise evidence on the association between
In conclusion, the present study suggests that the
Footnotes
Declaration of conflicting interest
The authors declare that there are no conflicts of interest.
Funding
This research received no specific grant from any funding agency in the public, commercial, or not-for-profit sectors.
