Correlation between interleukin-12B gene polymorphism and hepatitis C virus: A Metaanalysis

Objective To explore the correlation between interleukin 12B (IL-12B) 3'UTR A＞ C polymorphism and hepatitis C virus infection. Methods Systematic searches of electronic databases as PubMed, Cochrane Library, CBM and CNKI were performed, and then case-control study about correlation between interleukin 12B (IL-12B) 3'UTR A＞ C polymorphism and hepatitis C virus infection from November 1988 to April 2014 were collected. Meta-analysis was conducted using Stata 12.0 software. Results A total of 6 studies were identified, including 1 396 patients and 1 254 controls. The results of meta-analysis showed that the ratio of patients with 3'UTR C polymorphism had the risk of infecting with the HCV to patients without 3'UTR C polymorphism was 1.12∶1 (OR=1.12, 95% CI: 0.90-1.39), and no significant difference was showed in the correlation between IL-12B 3'UTR A＞ C polymorphism and HCV infection (Z=1.56, P＞ 0.05). In the subgroup analysis on ethnicity, the ratio of patients in Asia with 3'UTR C polymorphism had the risk of infecting with the HCV to patients without 3'UTR C polymorphism was 1.04∶1 (OR=1.04, 95% CI: 0.67-1.61), while no significant correlation was found (Z=1.56, P＞ 0.05). Conclusion Meta-analysis strongly suggests that the correlation between IL-12B 3'UTR A＞ C polymorphism and HCV is not significant.