Meta-Analysis
Copyright ©The Author(s) 2020. Published by Baishideng Publishing Group Inc. All rights reserved.
World J Clin Cases. Jun 6, 2020; 8(11): 2280-2293
Published online Jun 6, 2020. doi: 10.12998/wjcc.v8.i11.2280
Role of IL-17 gene polymorphisms in osteoarthritis: A meta-analysis based on observational studies
Hao-Yu Yang, Yu-Zhou Liu, Xin-Die Zhou, Yong Huang, Nan-Wei Xu
Hao-Yu Yang, Yu-Zhou Liu, Department of Orthopedics, Wuxi 9th People’s Hospital affiliated to Soochow University, Wuxi 214000, Jiangsu Province, China
Xin-Die Zhou, Yong Huang, Nan-Wei Xu, Department of Orthopedics, The Affiliated Changzhou No.2 People’s Hospital of Nanjing Medical University, Changzhou 213003, Jiangsu Province, China
Author contributions: Yang HY and Liu YZ contributed equally to this work; Yang YH, Huang Y, and Xu NW designed the research; Yang YH, Liu YZ and Zhou XD performed the research; Yang HY and Liu YZ contributed new reagents/analytic tools; Zhou XD and Xu NW analyzed the data; and Yang YH, Liu YZ and Huang Y wrote the paper.
Supported by National Natural Science Foundation of China, No. 81702179; Major Scientific and Technological Project of Changzhou Municipal Commission of Health and Family Planning, No. ZD201809.
Conflict-of-interest statement: The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.
PRISMA 2009 Checklist statement: The guidelines of the PRISMA 2009 Statement have been adopted.
Open-Access: This article is an open-access article that was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution NonCommercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Corresponding author: Yong Huang, MD, Doctor, Full Professor, Department of Orthopedics, The Affiliated Changzhou No.2 People’s Hospital of Nanjing Medical University, No. 29 Xinglong Road, Tianning District, Changzhou 213003, Jiangsu Province, China. huangyong@njmu.edu.cn
Received: December 11, 2019
Peer-review started: December 11, 2019
First decision: January 7, 2020
Revised: March 6, 2020
Accepted: April 24, 2020
Article in press: April 24, 2020
Published online: June 6, 2020
Processing time: 179 Days and 13.1 Hours
ARTICLE HIGHLIGHTS
Research background

Osteoarthritis (OA) is the combined result of complex pathogenic factors, including mechanical, biochemical, environmental, endocrine, metabolic, and genetic factors, which account for nearly 50% of the risk of OA development. Although the pathogenesis and etiology of OA are not known, it is likely that interleukin-17 (IL-17) might play an important role in OA development.

Research motivation

To date, several studies have explored the relationship between polymorphisms of the IL-17 gene and OA susceptibility. The association between IL-17 gene single nucleotide polymorphisms and OA susceptibility may provide novel research directions for OA studies. However, the results of previous studies are inconclusive and conflicting due to clinical heterogeneity, different ethnic populations and small sample sizes.

Research objectives

We meta-analyzed relevant articles regarding the association between the polymorphisms of IL-17 gene and OA susceptibility.

Research methods

We systematically conducted the literature search using the following electronic databases: PubMed, EMBASE, MEDLINE, Cochrane Library, and Google Scholar to identify epidemiological studies published up to September 2019 to retrieve genetic association studies on OA. Pooled odds ratios with 95% confidence intervals were calculated. Subgroup analyses were carried based on ethnicity and type of OA. Furthermore, false-positive report probability was conducted to evaluate the significant findings and rule out any false associations due to multiple tests.

Research results

In a total of 6 citations involving 8 studies (2131 cases and 2299 controls), 4 single nucleotide polymorphisms were identified. Of these 4 polymorphisms, 2 (rs2275913, rs763780) were common in five case-control studies. Together, the pooled results revealed that the A allele and genotype AA/GA of the rs2275913 polymorphism, and the C allele and genotype CC of the rs763780 polymorphism in the IL-17 gene increased the risk of OA. Furthermore, stratification analyses by ethnicity and OA type showed that the rs2275913 polymorphism increased the risk of OA among Asians and in knee/hip OA, respectively. In addition, stratification analyses also revealed that the rs763780 polymorphism increased OA risk among both Asians and Caucasians in knee/hip OA.

Research conclusions

The rs763780 polymorphism of the IL-17F gene increased the risk of OA, whereas the rs2275913 polymorphism of the IL-17A gene increased the risk of OA only among Asians. Due to the limitations of this study, these findings should be validated in future studies.