Association of +331G/A PgR polymorphism with susceptibility to female reproductive cancer: evidence from a meta-analysis.

The progesterone receptor (PgR), a sex steroid hormone receptor that binds progesterone is critical for normal breast development. The PgR (+331G/A, rs10895068) promoter polymorphism is associated with cancer risk possibly by altering the expression of progesterone receptor B isoform. Previous studies have provided inconsistent results. To validate the association between the PgR +331G/A polymorphism and female reproductive cancer risk (breast, endometrial and ovarian cancer), we performed a meta-analysis of 19 studies (19,978 cases and 24,525 controls) by using the CMA Version 2 software. Odds ratios (ORs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) were used to assess the strength of the associations. The overall results indicated that the variant allele and genotypes were associated with a mild increase in overall female reproductive cancer risk (A vs. G: OR = 1.063, 95% CI = 1.001-1.129; AA+AG vs. GG: OR = 1.067, 95% CI = 1.002-1.136). The results suggest that the PgR +331G/A polymorphism might be associated with an increased female reproductive cancer risk.