Association between KIF1B rs17401966 polymorphism and hepatocellular carcinoma risk: a meta-analysis involving 17,210 subjects

Some publications have evaluated the correlation between KIF1B rs17401966 polymorphism and hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) with conflicting results. We performed this meta-analysis to clarify the association of KIF1B rs17401966 polymorphism and HCC risk. We searched PubMed, ISI Web of Knowledge, ScienceDirect, and Google Scholar. The combined odds ratio (OR) with 95 % confidence interval (CI) was calculated to estimate the strength of the association. Heterogeneity and publication bias were also assessed. In total, 15 case-control studies with 7,596 HCC cases and 9,614 controls were included in the meta-analysis. A significant association between KIF1B rs17401966 polymorphism and HCC risk was detected (OR = 0.81, 95 % CI 0.72–0.91, P < 0.001). We also found a significant association between KIF1B rs17401966 polymorphism and HCC risk in Chinese (OR = 0.77, 95 % CI 0.67–0.89, P < 0.001). In the subgroup analysis by gender, KIF1B rs17401966 polymorphism was significantly associated with HCC risk in man (OR = 0.57, 95 % CI 0.51–0.64, P < 0.001). In the subgroup analyses of age, the similar associations were also observed in young patients (OR = 0.50, 95 % CI 0.39–0.66, P < 0.001) and old patients (OR = 0.66, 95 % CI 0.57–0.77, P < 0.001). However, no association was observed in women subgroup (OR = 0.79, 95 % CI 0.59–1.06, P = 0.11). This meta-analysis showed a significant association between KIF1B rs17401966 polymorphism and HCC.