RANTES Gene Polymorphisms and Asthma Risk: A Meta-Analysis

Abstract

RANTES is a chemokine that assists the recruitment of inflammatory cells including eosinophils. Previous studies revealed that polymorphisms of RANTES were implicated in susceptibility to asthma, but a large number of studies reported apparently conflicting results. We performed a meta-analysis to investigate the association of these polymorphisms and asthma risk. Literature-based meta-analysis was supplemented by tabular data from investigation of all relevant studies regarding all polymorphisms of RANTES available before November 30, 2009, with investigation on potential sources of heterogeneity. Ten case/control studies were included in the meta-analysis, involving a total of 1706 cases and 1685 controls. In a combined analysis, no significant associations with asthma risk were found on these two polymorphisms (-403G/A and -28C/G) without any publication bias. For the -403G/A polymorphism, in subgroup analysis by ethnicity, no significant associations were found in Asians, Europeans or African-Americans; in subgroup analysis by age, no significant associations were found in adults or children. In subgroup analysis by atopic status, the -403G/A polymorphism was significantly associated with asthma risk in atopic asthma (dominant model [OR = 1.38, 95% CI = 1.09-1.76, p = 0.009; P(het) = 0.10]; A vs. G model [OR = 1.25, 95% CI = 1.04-1.51, p = 0.02; P(het) = 0.11] and AG vs. GG model [OR = 1.37, 95% CI = 1.06-1.77, p = 0.02; P(het) = 0.14]). This meta-analysis suggested that RANTES gene -403G/A polymorphism would be a risk factor among atopic asthma patients. To further evaluate gene-to-gene and gene-to-environment interactions on RANTES polymorphisms and asthma risk, more studies with thousands of patients are required.