Hypoxia-inducible factor-1α (HIF-1α) C1772T polymorphism significantly contributes to the risk of malignancy from a meta-analysis

Although the association between hypoxia-inducible factor-1α (HIF-1α) C1772T polymorphism and risk of malignancy has been widely studied, results from published studies remained controversial. Therefore, the relationship between them was further assessed in this meta-analysis. The databases of PubMed, Embase, and Wanfang were searched, and odds ratio with 95 % confidence interval (OR and 95 % CI) were used to assess the strength of the association. A total of 38 case–control studies with 23,876 participants were included. Overall, the T allele of HIF-1α C1772T was significantly associated with increased risk of malignancy development (OR and 95 % CI 1.18 (1.00–1.38), P = 0.048 for T carriers vs. CC; 1.22 (1.05–1.41), P = 0.010 for T carriers vs. C carriers). When subgroup analyses were conducted, T allele was further found to be associated with increased risk of malignancy development for Asians rather than Caucasians (OR and 95 % CI 1.36 (1.10–1.67), P = 0.004 for Asians) and for population-based studies (OR and 95 % CI 1.19 (1.01–1.41), P = 0.040). Between-study heterogeneity existed in genetic comparison models, and meta-regression indicated that the participants’ ethnicities and types of malignancy might be the sources of heterogeneity. No publication bias was found. In conclusion, this study indicated that HIF-1α C1772T polymorphism was significantly associated with increased risk of malignancy development for Asians. More studies were further required to focus on the relationship between HIF-1α C1772T polymorphism and risk of a specific type of tumor.