Previous studies have suggested that estrogen receptor-β (ESR2) rs1256049 polymorphism is associated with the susceptibility of cancer. However, the results are inconsistent. We performed a meta-analysis to evaluate the association between the rs1256049 polymorphism and cancer risk. PubMed, ISI Web of Knowledge, and Chinese National Knowledge Infrastructure (CNKI), were searched for eligible studies. The odds ratios (ORs) with 95% confidence interval (CI) were used to assess the strength of association. 22 studies including 22,994 cases and 30,514 controls were identified. There was no significant association between rs1256049 and cancer risk in the overall population. Stratified analysis by ethnicity revealed that the rs1256049 polymorphism was associated with cancer risk in Caucasians (A vs. G: OR = 1.09, 95% CI = 1.01-1.16; GA vs. GG: OR = 1.10, 95% CI = 1.02-1.18; AA+GA vs. GG: OR = 1.09, 95% CI = 1.02-1.17), but not in Asians. Further subgroup analysis by cancer type indicated that the rs1256049 polymorphism may contribute to prostate cancer risk (AA vs. GG: OR = 1.41, 95% CI = 1.02-1.96; AA vs. GG+GA: OR = 1.52, 95% CI = 1.10-2.10), whereas negative results were obtained for breast cancer in any genetic model. This meta-analysis suggested that the ESR2 rs1256049 polymorphism is a candidate gene polymorphism for cancer susceptibility in Caucasians, especially in prostate cancer.
Keywords: ESR2; cancer risk; meta-analysis; polymorphism.