Background: Many studies have investigated the relationship between the interleukin-1β gene (IL1B) -511C/T polymorphism and the risk of Behçet's disease (BD); however, the conclusions remain controversial.
Methods: In this study, we systemically retrieved relevant studies from the Chinese Biomedicine Database, China National Knowledge Infrastructure, Embase, Cochrane Library, and PubMed databases. We then calculated the odds ratios (ORs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) using the meta-package Stata version 12.0.
Results: The IL1B -511C/T polymorphism was not related to BD susceptibility using any of the tested models (C vs T: OR = 1.20, 95% CI = 0.97-1.49; CC vs TT: OR = 1.27, 95% CI = 0.95-1.70; CT vs TT: OR = 1.03, 95% CI = 0.781.36; dominant model: OR = 1.12, 95% CI = 0.87-1.46; recessive model: OR = 1.27, 95% CI = 0.89-1.82). Similarly, subgroup analysis including studies consistent with the Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium revealed no association between the IL1B polymorphism and BD susceptibility.
Conclusion: This meta-analysis indicates that the IL1B -511C/T polymorphism is unlikely to affect the risk of BD; however, further large-scale, carefully designed studies are needed to verify these results.
Keywords: Behçet’s disease; Interleukin-1β; gene polymorphism; genetic susceptibility; meta-analysis; risk factor.