Interleukin18 Polymorphisms Deficiency Association with Asthma Risk: An Update Metaanalysis

Growing evidence indicated conflicting results that Interleukin18 (IL18) promoter polymorphisms rs1946518 (A607C), rs187238 (G137C) and rs549908 (A105C) were associated with asthma risk. The aim of this study is to comprehensively evaluate the IL18 polymorphisms and asthma by a systematic review and metaanalysis. A total of 12 studies testing the association between these polymorphisms and asthma were examined (8 studies for A607C, 8 studies for G137C, and 4 studies for A105C) in the update metaanalysis, up to Dec 30, 2017. Summary odds ratios (ORs) and 95% confidence intervals (CI) were used to estimate the strength of association between each polymorphism and asthma using fixed and randomeffects models when appropriate. Heterogeneity and publication bias were evaluated. The metaanalysis results indicated that any allele frequencies of the IL18 polymorphisms (A607C, G137C and A105C) was not associated with asthma risk (p gt;0.05). And no statistically significant association was observed between genotype frequencies of these polymorphisms and asthma under different genetic models (p gt;0.05). Subgroup analysis results were similar to the main analysis by ethnicity, sample size, genotyping methods, matching criteria and quality score. There was no evidence of publication bias. The present metaanalysis suggests that IL18 polymorphisms (A607C, G137C and A105C) were unlikely to be associated with asthma risk. #xD; #xA0;