Association of glutathione S-transferase M1/T1 polymorphisms with susceptibility to vitiligo.

Background: Some studies suggested that Glutathione S-transferases M1/T1(GSTM1/T1) null polymorphisms may be associated with the risk of vitiligo.
Aims: The purpose of this study is to further evaluate the association between GSTM1/T1 null polymorphisms and the susceptibility to vitiligo.
Methods: We carried out a retrieval of studies in the databases. Odds ratios (OR) and 95% confidence intervals (95% CIs) were used to assess the strength of this association. We analyzed the data using Stata 11.0.
Results: Six case-control studies including 1358 cases and 1673 controls were included in this meta-analysis. Our overall results showed the GSTM1 or GSTT1 null polymorphism was associated with vitiligo (GSTM1:OR=1.59, 95% CI: 1.21-2.08, P=0.001; GSTT1: OR=1.30, 95% CI: 1.12-1.51, P=0.001). In the subgroup analysis, the GSTM1 null polymorphism might be a genetic risk factor to vitiligo in East Asian (OR=1.71, 95% CI: 1.12-2.63, P=0.014) but not in the Mediterranean, however individuals with the GSTT1 null polymorphism in the Mediterranean (OR=1.76, 95% CI: 1.15-2.71, P=0.010) but not in East Asian have a greater predisposition to vitiligo. In addition there was also a significant trend toward an association with the combination of the GSTM1 null and GSTT1 null in either East Asians or Mediterraneans.
Conclusion: The GSTM1/T1 null polymorphisms may be associated with vitiligo. More studies are needed to confirm this conclusion.
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