Emerging evidence has shown that p53gene participates in human
carcinogenesis as
tumor suppressors. Polymorphism of p53 gene codon72
arginine (Arg)/
proline (Pro) (rs1042522) may influence the function of p53
protein and then affect the processing of
carcinogenesis. It has been suggested that p53 codon72
Arg/Pro polymorphism is associated with susceptibility to
hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). However, published results are inconsistent and inconclusive. To examine the validity of the association between the polymorphism and HCC risk, we performed this meta-analysis. We have conducted a search of case-control studies on the associations of p53 codon72 polymorphism with susceptibility to HCC in PubMed, ScienceDirect, BioMed central, Springer, EBSCO, Wanfang databases, and Chinese National Knowledge Infrastructure databases. A total of 15 studies were identified with 3,704 cases and 4,559 controls for codon72
Arg/Pro polymorphism. The result did support a significant genetic association between Pro allele and susceptibility to HCC in all the genetic models. Similarly, subgroup analysis showed significant associations between the
Arg/Pro polymorphism and susceptibility to HCC when stratifying by race, gender, source of controls, and hepatitis virus
infection status. This meta-analysis suggests that p53 codon72
Arg/Pro polymorphism may be associated with the risk of HCC, especially in subgroup analysis of Asian and Caucasian population, hospital-based population, the female, and the individuals infected with hepatitis virus. However, well-designed studies based on different ethnic groups with larger sample size and more detailed data are needed to confirm these conclusions.