ABSTRACT: BACKGROUND: Three extensively investigated polymorphisms (Arg399Gln, Arg194Trp, and Arg280His) in the X-ray repair cross-complementing group 1 (XRCC1) gene have been implicated in risk for glioma. However, the results from different studies remain inconsistent. To clarify these conflicts, we performed a quantitative synthesis of the evidence to elucidate these associations in the Chinese population. METHODS: Data were extracted from PubMed and EMBASE, with the last search up to August 21, 2014. Meta-analysis was performed by critically reviewing 8 studies for Arg399Gln (3062 cases and 3362 controls), 8 studies for Arg194Trp (3419 cases and 3680 controls), and 5 studies for Arg280His (2234 cases and 2380 controls). All of the statistical analyses were performed using the software program, STATA (version 11.0). RESULTS: Our analysis suggested that both Arg399Gln and Arg194Trp polymorphisms were significantly associated with increased risk of glioma (for Arg399Gln polymorphism: Gln/Gln vs. Arg/Arg, OR?=?1.82, 95% CI?=?1.46-2.27, P?=?0.000; Arg/Gln vs. Arg/Arg, OR?=?1.25, 95% CI?=?1.10-1.42, P?=?0.001 and for Arg194Trp polymorphism: recessive model, OR?=?1.78, 95% CI?=?1.44-2.19, P?=?0.000), whereas the Arg280His polymorphism had no influence on the susceptibility to glioma in a Chinese population. CONCLUSIONS: This meta-analysis suggests that there may be no association between the Arg280His polymorphism and glioma risk, whereas the Arg399Gln/Arg194Trp polymorphisms may contribute to genetic susceptibility to glioma in the Chinese population. Nevertheless, large-scale, well-designed and population-based studies are needed to further evaluate gene-gene and gene-environment interactions, as well as to measure the combined effects of these XRCC1 variants on glioma risk.
