Analysis of the SNP rs3747333 and rs3747334 in NLGN4X gene in autism spectrum disorder: a meta-analysis

Background The SNP rs3747333 and rs3747334 in Neuroligin 4X (NLGN4X) gene have been demonstrated to be associated with the susceptibility to Autism spectrum disorder (ASDs; MIM 209850), but the results are inconsistent. Therefore, a meta-analysis of eligible studies reporting the association between rs3747333 and rs3747334 and ASD was carried out to enhance the reliability of published results. Methods A systematic literature search was performed using PubMed, Web of Science, Cochrane Library to search English articles concerning the relation between rs3747333, rs3747334 and ASD up to Sep. 21th, 2017. Summary odds ratios (OR) and 95% confidence interval (CI) were used to evaluate the risk of rs3747333, rs3747334 in the ASD. The heterogeneity and publication bias of the eligible studies were also evaluated. Results Six eligible studies involving 1284 subjects (735 patients and 549 healthy controls) were included in this meta-analysis. Overall, the results indicated that there was no significant risk elevation between rs3747333, rs3747334 variants and ASD (OR = 0.39, 95% CI 0.10–1.60). Furthermore, sensitivity analysis and publication bias analysis confirmed this result. Conclusions In conclusion, our meta-analysis suggests that the rs3747333, rs3747334 in NLGN4X gene are not frequent causes of ASD. Electronic supplementary material The online version of this article (10.1186/s12991-019-0227-5) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.