Association between KIF6 rs20455 polymorphism and the risk of coronary heart disease (CHD): a pooled analysis of 50 individual studies including 40,059 cases and 64,032 controls

Background: The KIF6 rs20455 polymorphism has been verified as an important genetic factor of coronary heart disease (CHD), but with controversial results. The aim of this study was to explore the association between KIF6 rs20455 polymorphism and susceptibility to CHD.

Methods: All eligible studies were identified by searching Medline (mainly PubMed), EMBASE, the Web of Science, Cochrane Collaboration Database, Chinese National Knowledge Infrastructure, Wanfang Database and China Biological Medicine up to October 5, 2016.Odds ratios (ORs) with 95% confidence interval (CI) were used to explore the association between KIF6 rs20455 polymorphism and CHD risk. Begg's and Egger's tests were used to examine the publication bias. Subgroup analysis and sensitivity analysis were performed to test the reliability and stability of the results. All the analyses were carried out by Stata 12.0 software.

Results: A total of 28 publications including 50 individual studies were analyzed in this present work. There are no significant association found between KIF6 rs20455 polymorphism and CHD risk (Homozygote model: OR = 1.007, 95% CI =0.952-1.066, P = 0.801; Heterozygote model: OR = 1.009, 95% CI = 0.968-1.052, P = 0.636; Dominant model: OR = 1.007, 95% CI = 0.966-1.048, P = 0.753; Recessive model: OR = 0.989, 95% CI = 0.943-1.037, P = 0.655; Allele comparison model: OR = 1.00, 95% CI = 0.971-1.030, P = 0.988). Furthermore, subgroup analyses were performed by ethnicity, source of control.

Conclusions: Our result suggests that KIF6 rs20455 polymorphism may not be associated with CHD susceptibility. However, additional very well-designed large-scale studies are warranted to confirm our results.