ABSTRACT
<p><b>OBJECTIVE</b>To evaluate the relationship between tumor necrosis factor-alpha-238, transforming growth factor beta (509 and 869) gene polymorphisms and pneumoconiosis susceptibility.</p><p><b>METHODS</b>We searched published full-text from foreign language databases including Elsevier, PubMed, Wiley Online Library, EMCC, Web of Science, chinese databases containing CNKI, VIP, Wanfang, CBM and Cochrane library to collect case-control or cohort study on gene gene polymorphisms said above with pneumoconiosis susceptibility from the year January1988 to August 2011. 28 relevant articles were selected and 20 of them met the criteria. The correlated index was extracted for aggregate analysis in RevMan 4.2.</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>Among the 20 studies, 10 articles on TNF-α238 polymorphism (including 2232 pneumoconiosis cases and 1985 control subjects), 4 articles on TGF-β509 polymorphism (including 693 pneumoconiosis cases and 663 control subjects), and 6 articles on TGF-β869 polymorphism (including 1450 pneumoconiosis cases and 1101 control subjects) were included in the current study. Meta-analysis results showed that there was a significant association between TNF-α238 polymorphism and pneumoconiosis: the population with GA and AA genotypes of TNF-α238 had higher risks to pneumoconiosis (OR = 1.53, 95%CI: 1.25 ∼ 1.88) comparing to GG genotype, and the population with A allele had higher risks to pneumoconiosis comparing to allele G (OR = 1.64, 95%CI: 1.17 ∼ 2.30). The stratified analysis showed that the people with GA and AA genotypes and A allele who were silicosis, Asian or exposed to dust had higher risks to pneumoconiosis (OR = 2.14, 95%CI: 1.20 ∼ 3.82; OR = 2.16, 95%CI: 1.20 ∼ 3.88; OR = 1.78, 95%CI: 1.01 ∼ 3.11; OR = 1.83, 95%CI: 1.04 ∼ 3.22; OR = 1.80, 95%CI: 1.21 ∼ 2.66; OR = 1.50, 95%CI: 1.23 ∼ 1.83). No significant association was found between TGF-β (509 and 869) gene polymorphisms with pneumoconiosis: In contrast to the CC genotype, the population who had CT and TT genotypes had no higher risks to pneumoconiosis (OR = 1.56, 95%CI: 0.81 ∼ 3.01; OR = 0.96, 95%CI: 0.79 ∼ 1.18); The population who had T allele had no higher risks to pneumoconiosis in contrast to the C allele (OR = 1.35, 95%CI: 0.86 ∼ 2.13; OR = 1.02, 95%CI: 0.91 ∼ 1.15).</p><p><b>CONCLUSION</b>Significant association was found between TNFα238 gene polymorphism and pneumoconiosis; and TGF-β (509 and 869) were not.</p>