To determine the correlation between rheumatoid arthritis (RA) and polymorphisms of the matrix metalloproteinase (MMP) genes MMP-1 and MMP-3.
The 1607 1G/2G and 1171 5A/6A polymorphisms of MMP genes MMP-1 and MMP-3 have been discovered to be functional, and may be conducive to RA. In order to determine whether MMP-1 and MMP-3 gene polymorphisms correlate with RA development, we performed a meta-analysis to further validate the function of these polymorphisms in RA.
We searched PubMed, ISI Web of Knowledge, MEDLINE, Embase, Google Scholar Chinese Biomedical Literature Database, and Wanfang Data to identify all published case-control studies on the MMP-1-1607 1G/2G and MMP-3-1171 5A/6A polymorphisms and RA risk. Odds ratios (OR) and 95 % confidence intervals (CI) were used to estimate the association between these polymorphisms and RA risk.
After being assessed, five articles fulfilled the inclusion criteria. To assess associations, the pooled OR with 95 % CIs was calculated. Neither the MMP-1-1607 1G/2G nor the MMP-3-1171 5A/6A polymorphism was statistically associated with RA in any of the five models, nor in the subgroup analysis models of MMP-3-1171 5A/6A in Caucasian and Asian patients.
Our study suggests that MMP-1 and MMP-3 polymorphisms have no significant association with the risk of RA.