Association of the Polymorphisms in the <i>Fas/FasL</i> Promoter Regions with Cancer Susceptibility: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis of 52 Studies

<div><p>Fas and its ligand (FasL) play an important role in apoptosis and carcinogenesis. Therefore, the potential association of polymorphisms in the <i>Fas</i> (-670A>G, rs1800682; -1377G>A, rs2234767) and <i>FasL</i> (-844C>T, rs763110) with cancer risk has been widely investigated. However, all the currently available results are not always consistent. In this work, we performed a meta-analysis to further determine whether carriers of the polymorphisms in <i>Fas</i> and <i>FasL</i> of interest could confer an altered susceptibility to cancer. All relevant data were retrieved by PubMed and Web of Science, and 52 eligible studies were chosen for this meta-analysis. There was no association of the <i>Fas</i> -670A>G polymorphism with cancer risk in the pooled data. For the <i>Fas</i> -1377G>A and <i>FasL</i> -844C>T polymorphisms, results revealed that the homozygotes of -1377A and -844C were associated with elevated risk of cancer as a whole. Further stratified analysis indicated markedly increased risk for developing breast cancer, gastric cancer, and esophageal cancer, in particular in Asian population. We conclude that carriers of the <i>Fas</i>-1377A and the <i>FasL</i> -844C are more susceptible to the majority of cancers than non-carriers.</p>