Significant association between MTHFR C677T polymorphism and hepatocellular carcinoma risk: a meta-analysis

Previous studies investigated the association between methylenetetrahydrofolate reductase (MTHFR) C677T polymorphism and hepatocellular carcinoma risk, but the impact of MTHFR C677T polymorphism on hepatocellular carcinoma was still unclear, owing to the obvious inconsistence from those studies. This study aimed to quantify the strength of the association between MTHFR C677T polymorphism and hepatocellular carcinoma risk by performing a meta-analysis. We searched the PubMed and Wanfang databases for studies on the association between MTHFR C677T polymorphism and hepatocellular carcinoma risk. We estimated the pooled odds ratios (ORs) with their 95 % confidence intervals (95 % CIs) to assess the association. Fifteen studies with 8,625 participants were finally included into the meta-analysis. Meta-analyses of total 15 studies suggested that MTHFR C677T polymorphism was significantly associated with an increased risk of hepatocellular carcinoma under two main genetic models (for TT versus CC, OR = 1.19, 95 % CI 1.03–1.37, P = 0.016; for TT versus CT/CC, OR = 1.14, 95 % CI 1.01–1.28, P = 0.032). Subgroup meta-analyses suggested that MTHFR C677T polymorphism was associated with an increased risk of hepatocellular carcinoma in Asians, but not in Caucasians. Thus, individuals with homozygote genotype TT of MTHFR C677T have obviously increased risk of hepatocellular carcinoma.