Meta-analysis of the relationship between the polymorphism of ACE and TNF-α gene and the susceptibility of sarcoidosis

Objective To evaluate the relationship between angiotensin converting enzyme (ACE) and tumor necrosis factors-α (TNF-α) gene polymorphism and sarcoidosis. Methods Meta analysis was carried out by retrieving the studies published up to July 2018 to evaluate the relationship between ACE and TNF-α gene polymorphism and sarcoidosis. RevMan 5.3 and Stata 12.0 software were used to analyze the combined OR value and 95% confidence interval (95% CI) by recessive model and dominant model. The stability of the results was judged by ethnic subgroup analysis and sensitivity analysis. Results A total of 28 articles and 30 studies met the inclusion criteria, including 7 888 cases, 2 992 cases of sarcoidosis and 4 896 healthy controls. No significant association was found between ACE I/D and sarcoidosis using any model (P>0.05). TNF-α-308A/G was significantly associated with sarcoidosis risk (OR=1.34, 95% CI=1.13-1.58, P=0.0007). Ethnic subgroup analysis showed that the results were significantly different in both the Caucasians (OR=1.36, 95% CI=1.13-1.64, P=0.001) and the Asians (OR=4.88, 95% CI=1.43-16.99, P=0.01). Conclusions The meta-analysis identified that AA/AG genotypes at TNF-α-308 were associated with susceptibility to sarcoidosis .However, no significant correlation was found between ACE I/D and the susceptibility of sarcoidosis. Key words: Tumor necrosis factor-alpha; Angiotensin-converting enzyme; Gene polymorphism; Sarcoidosis; Meta-analysis