Current evidence on the four polymorphisms of VDR and breast cancer risk in Caucasian women

•We added some new studies.•The polymorphisms of VDR gene do not contribute to breast cancer susceptibility.•This analysis is conducted in Caucasian women.

There have been a few epidemiological studies reporting VDR polymorphisms including Fok1, Bsm1, Apa1 and Taq1with breast cancer incidence and therefore risk. The results however are controversial, often due to smaller sample size. Concerning most of the studies were performed on Caucasian women, we conducted this comprehensive meta-analysis encompassing 38,151 cases and 47,546 controls (Fok1: 13,152 cases, 17,443 controls; Bsm1: 14,755 cases, 18,633 controls; Apa1: 3080 cases, 3412 controls; Taq1: 7164 cases, 8068 controls) to better understand roles of the polymorphisms in breast cancer development among Caucasian population. We did not find any association of the most controversial genotype Fok1 with breast cancer risk in Caucasian women (ff vs. FF: OR = 1.05, 95% CI = 0.95–1.22, P = 0.32 for heterogeneity; ff vs. Ff: OR = 1.05, 95% CI = 0.94–1.17, P = 0.40; ff vs. Ff + FF: OR = 1.07, 95% CI = 0.95–1.14, P = 0.37 and ff + Ff vs. FF: OR = 1.04, 95% CI = 0.99–1.09, P = 0.23). For Bsm1, Apa1 and Taq1, no significant association was also not found in the homozygote comparison, heterozygote comparison, recessive and dominant models respectively. In conclusion, the current analysis suggested that the four polymorphisms (Fok1, Bsm1, Apa1 and Taq1) of VDR may be not associated with breast cancer risk in Caucasian women.