Association of glutathione S-transferase M1/T1 polymorphisms with susceptibility to vitiligo

• Individuals with GSTM1 null variant in East Asian have a predisposition to vitiligo.
• In East Asian, GSTM1/T1 null/present variant may be a vitiligo susceptibility gene.
• GSTM1/T1 present/present polymorphism may decrease vitiligo risk in East Asian.
• GSTT1 null polymorphism is associated with vitiligo risk in Mediterranean.
• GSTM1/T1 null/null variant is linked with vitiligo in East Asian and Mediterranean.

BackgroundSome studies suggested that Glutathione S-transferases M1/T1(GSTM1/T1) null polymorphisms may be associated with the risk of vitiligo.AimsThe purpose of this study is to further evaluate the association between GSTM1/T1 null polymorphisms and the susceptibility to vitiligo.MethodsWe carried out a retrieval of studies in the databases. Odds ratios (OR) and 95% confidence intervals (95% CIs) were used to assess the strength of this association. We analyzed the data using Stata 11.0.ResultsSix case–control studies including 1358 cases and 1673 controls were included in this meta-analysis. Our overall results showed the GSTM1 or GSTT1 null polymorphism was associated with vitiligo (GSTM1:OR = 1.59, 95% CI: 1.21–2.08, P = 0.001; GSTT1: OR = 1.30, 95% CI: 1.12–1.51, P = 0.001). In the subgroup analysis, the GSTM1 null polymorphism might be a genetic risk factor to vitiligo in East Asian (OR = 1.71, 95% CI: 1.12–2.63, P = 0.014) but not in the Mediterranean, however individuals with the GSTT1 null polymorphism in the Mediterranean (OR = 1.76, 95% CI: 1.15–2.71, P = 0.010) but not in East Asian have a greater predisposition to vitiligo. In addition there was also a significant trend toward an association with the combination of the GSTM1 null and GSTT1 null in either East Asians or Mediterraneans.ConclusionThe GSTM1/T1 null polymorphisms may be associated with vitiligo. More studies are needed to confirm this conclusion.