Lack of association between interleukin-4 −524C>T polymorphism and colorectal cancer susceptibility

Interleukin-4 (IL-4) −524C > T polymorphism has been implicated to alter the risk of colorectal cancer (CRC), but the results are controversial. The objective of this study was to quantitatively evaluate the association between IL-4 −524C > T polymorphism and CRC risk. A comprehensive search was conducted to identify all eligible studies of IL-4 −524C > T polymorphism and CRC risk. Statistical analysis was performed with Review Manager 5.0 and Stata 11. A total of 5 case–control studies, including 1,224 cases and 1,551 controls, were included. The combined results based on all eligible studies suggested that IL-4 −524C > T polymorphism was not associated with CRC susceptibility. When stratifying for race, the data showed that the IL-4 −524C > T polymorphism was also not associated with an increased CRC susceptibility in Caucasians. Our study suggests that IL-4 −524C > T polymorphism may be not associated with an increased CRC susceptibility.