Lack of Association between the IL-13 C-1112T, G2044A Polymorphisms and Graves’ Disease Risk: Evidence from a Meta-analysis

Abstract

Background: Previous studies have provided conflicting evidence implicating the IL-13 C-1112T and G2044A polymorphisms in Graves’ disease (GD) risk. We undertook a meta-analysis to address this issue.Methods: The Medline, Pubmed and Web of Science databases were searched for published case-control studies investigating the relation of the IL-13 C-1112T and G2044A polymorphisms with GD risk. Data were extracted using standardized forms and odds ratios (OR) with 95% confidence intervals (CI) were calculated.Results: Available data did not suggest an association between any of the two IL-13 polymorphisms and GD risk. For the C-1112T polymorphism, the combined OR was 0.96 (95% CI: 0.77–1.19) for dominant model (TT + CT vs CC), 0.97 (95% CI: 0.69–1.38) for recessive model (TT vs CT + CC), and 0.97 (95% CI: 0.68–1.39) for homozygote model (TT vs CC). ORs for the G2044A polymorphism were similar. In subgroup analyses stratified by ethnicity, we also did not find associations between these two variants and GD risk in Asians or Caucasians. Sensitivity analyses by excluding each of the involved study in turn did not change the pooled results.Conclusion: The IL-13 C-1112T and G2044A polymorphisms are not associated with GD risk.