Accumulative evidence suggests that polymorphism in the APE1 gene may have association with the etiology of lung cancer by modulating DNA repair capacity. Many studies have evaluated the association with great discrepancies in the results. The present meta-analysis was undertaken to clarify the effects of this polymorphism on lung cancer. A meta-analysis of 15 studies with 4,932 lung cancer patients and 6,555 cancer-free controls was conducted to evaluate the strength of the association using odds ratios (ORs) with 95 % confidence intervals (CIs). Overall, no significant association was found between APE1 polymorphism and lung cancer risk. We also did not observe any statistical evidence of modified lung cancer risk either in smokes or in nonsmokers. In the stratified analysis by ethnicity, however, it was found that the Glu/Clu genotype carriers had 1.16-fold higher risk of suffering lung cancer compared with the carriers of Arg/Glu + Arg/Arg genotypes in Asian population (OR = 1.16, 95 % CI = 1.01-1.32, P = 0.242). This meta-analysis provides statistical evidence for a potential association between APE1 polymorphism and an increased risk of lung cancer in Asian population.