Candidate gene association studies and risk of chronic lymphocytic leukemia: a systematic review and meta-analysis

AbstractTo evaluate the contribution of association studies of candidate polymorphisms to inherited predisposition to chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL), we conducted a systematic review and meta-analysis of published case–control studies. We identified 36 studies which reported on polymorphic variation in 19 genes and CLL risk. Out of the 23 polymorphic variants, significant associations (p 0.2). While studies of candidate polymorphisms may be an attractive means of identifying risk factors for CLL, the limited power of published studies to demonstrate statistically significant associations makes it essential that future analyses be based on sample sizes well-powered to identify variants having modest effects on...