Three polymorphisms of ALOX5AP and risk of ischemic stroke in Chinese: evidence from a meta-analysis.

The impacts of three polymorphisms (SG13S114A/T, SG13S89A/G and SG13S32A/C) of 5-lipoxygenase activating protein (ALOX5AP) on the risk of ischemic stroke (IS) have been extensively studied for Chinese people, while conflicting results have been reported. The aim of meta-analysis was to further explore the associations to get a more robust conclusion. We researched the databases of Medline, Embase and Wangfang with latest update of August 1st, 2013. Odds ratio and corresponding 95% confidence interval (OR and 95%CI) were used to present the strength of the associations. Eleven case–control studies with 11,037 Chinese peoples (5361 IS cases and 5676 controls) were included. Overall, combined analysis indicated that AA genotype of ALOX5AP SG13S114A/T was significantly associated with increased risk of IS incidence compared with TT genotype [OR and 95%CI: 1.47 (1.13–1.91), P=0.005]. In addition, when subgroup analysis was conducted by subtypes of IS (atherothrombotic- or small artery disease-IS, AHS- or SAD-IS), A allele of SG13S114A/T was found to be associated with increased risk of AHS-IS compared with T allele [OR and 95%CI: 1.51 (1.28–1.79), P<0.01 for AA vs. TT, and 1.12 (1.03–1.22), P=0.010 for A carriers v. T carriers]. However, SG13S89A/G and SG13S32A/C were not overall associated with IS incidence. Due to limited number of included studies, subgroup analyses were not conducted for SG13S89A/G and SG13S32A/C polymorphisms. Sensitivity analyses indicated the robustness of all combined analyses, and publication bias was not found. In conclusion, ALOX5AP SG13S114A/T, rather SG13S89A/G and SG13S32A/C, was significantly associated with risk of IS development for Chinese. More studies were required to warrant the findings of this study.