Polymorphisms of Inflammatory Cytokine Genesand Risk for Intracranial Aneurysm:A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis

ABSTRACT

Purpose@#Inflammatory cytokines are thought to be involved in the pathogenesis of intracranial aneurysm (IA), although resultsamong studies in the literature are inconsistent. This article sought to review studies on the associations among polymorphismsin inflammatory cytokine genes and IA risk and to provide recommendations for future research. @*Materials and Methods@#A systematic search of PubMed, Embase, and Web of Science was conducted up to August 4, 2019. Theassociations between polymorphisms of inflammatory cytokine genes and IA risk were estimated by pooled odds ratios (ORs) and95% confidence intervals (CIs). Subgroup analyses were performed according to race. Qualitative systematic review was conductedfor variants that were studied in only one study. All analyses were performed using STATA 12.0. @*Results@#13 studies investigating the associations between polymorphisms in five inflammatory cytokine genes (TNF-α, IL-1α, IL-1β, IL6, and IL-12B) and IA were reviewed. Combined results showed that the A allele of TNF-α rs1800629 polymorphism has aprotective effect against IA (dominant model OR=0.65, 95% CI=0.47–0.89, p=0.007). No associations were identified between polymorphismsin IL-1α rs1800587, IL-1β rs16944, IL6 rs1800795 and rs1800796, or IL-12B rs3212227 and IA risk. @*Conclusion@#This review demonstrated an association between TNF-α rs1800629 polymorphism and IA in Caucasians, illustratingthe potentially important role of genes involved in inflammation in IA.