Background: There are different and inconsistent conclusions regarding the genetic relationship between the human tumor suppressor p53 (TP53) rs1042522 polymorphism and the risk of oral squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC) and oral leukoplakia (OL). Therefore, the aim of the study was to comprehensively reassess this association through the performance of an updated meta-analysis.
Methods: After searching the available databases, we systematically screened and included the eligible case-control studies, which contain the full genotype frequency data of the TP53 rs1042522 polymorphism for both OSCC/OL patients and the negative control groups. PA (P-value of the association test) and ORs (odd ratios) with their corresponding 95% CIs (confidence intervals) were calculated to quantitatively evaluate the influence of TP53 rs1042522 on the susceptibility of patients to OSCC or OL.
Results: In total, twenty eligible case-control articles were finally enrolled. Compared with the controls, no increased or decreased risk of OSCC was observed in the cases for six genetic models including allele C vs. G (PA = 0.741), carrier C vs. G (PA = 0.853), homozygote CC vs. GG (PA = 0.085), heterozygote GC vs. GG (PA = 0.882), dominant GC + CC vs. GG (PA = 0.969), and recessive CC vs. GG + GC (PA = 0.980). Furthermore, no statistically significant difference between the cases and controls was detected in most subgroup meta-analyses (PA > 0.05). For the risk of OL, we did not observe the difference between the cases and controls for most genetic models in the overall meta-analysis and subsequent subgroup analysis (PA > 0.05). Begg's test and Egger's test excluded the large risk of publication bias within the included studies in the meta-analysis of OSCC. The sensitivity analysis indicated the above relatively stable results.
Conclusions: Our updated meta-analysis (based on the current evidence) shows that TP53 rs1042522 may not confer susceptibility to OSCC. In addition, for the first time, we provided evidence regarding the negative association between TP53 rs1042522 and OL risk.
Keywords: Meta-analysis; OL; OSCC; Polymorphism; TP53.