Aryl hydrocarbon receptor rs2066853 gene polymorphisms and male infertility risk: a meta-analysis

To evaluate the relationship between the aryl hydrocarbon receptor (AHR) rs2066853 gene polymorphism and the risk of male infertility. PubMed, Embase, Web of Science, and Chinese National Knowledge Infrastructure (CNKI) were searched for relevant case–control studies up to 31 July 2019. Odds ratio (OR) and 95% confidence interval (95% CI) were used to assess the strength of associations. Finally, seven case–control studies involving 1247 cases and 1762 controls were included in this meta-analysis. The pooled results showed that there was no significant association between AHR rs2066853 gene polymorphism and male infertility risk (A vs. G: OR = 1.08, 95% CI = 0.83–1.39; AA vs. GG: OR = 1.16, 95% CI = 0.65–2.04; AA vs. GA + GG: OR = 1.17, 95% CI = 0.66–2.07; AA + GA vs. GG: OR = 0.99, 95% CI = 0.85–1.15). Subgroup analysis by ethnicity showed the same result. However, significant association was found between AHR rs2066853 gene polymorphism and male infertility risk in oligoasthenotspermia (A vs. G: OR = 2.52, 95% CI = 1.72–3.70). In conclusion, our meta-analysis indicated that AHR rs2066853 gene polymorphism might be associated with an increased susceptibility to oligoasthenotspermia.