Interleukin-23 receptor genetic variants contribute to susceptibility of multiple cancers

• We conducted a meta-analysis to study the cancer-related IL-23R genetic variants.
• We found that there was no association between rs1884444 and cancer susceptibility
• We found that IL-23R rs6682925 and rs10889677 SNPs were involved in carcinogenesis.

AimInterleukin-23 (IL-23) and IL-23 receptor (IL23R) play an important role during the T-helper 17 (Th17) cell-mediated inflammatory process as well as pathogenesis of multiple cancers. Several IL-23R single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs), especially rs6682925, rs10889677 and rs1884444 polymorphisms, are considered to have significant impacts on susceptibility of multiple cancers. A number of case-control studies have explored the role these genetic polymorphisms in development of carcinogenesis, but the conclusions are inconsistent. Therefore, we conducted this meta-analysis to systematically investigate the associations between the three genetic variants and multiple cancer risk.MethodsA total of ten studies are eligible (12,211 patients and 14,650 controls). Pooled odds ratios (ORs) and the 95% confidence interval (95% CI) were appropriately calculated using either fixed-effect model or random-effect model.ResultsSignificant associations between rs6682925 or rs10889677 polymorphism and cancer risk were found (OR = 1.11, 95% CI = 1.03–1.21, P = 0.007; or OR = 0.85, 95% CI = 0.71–0.92, P = 0.001). However, there was no such association between rs1884444 genotypes and cancer susceptibility (P > 0.05).ConclusionThese findings reveal that the IL-23R rs6682925 and rs10889677 genetic variants play a more important part in pathogenesis of multiple cancers.