Validating the meta-analytical results on MDM2, CASP8, XRCC3 polymorphisms and breast cancer risk: examination of Hardy-Weinberg Equilibrium.

摘要

Following the valuable methodological remarks by Mao et al. [1] regarding our meta-analysis on glutatbione-S-transferase polymorphisms and breast cancer risk [2], we decided to present elaborate sensitivity analyses on Hardy-Weinberg Equilibrium (HWE) in our three previous meta-analyses examining MDM2 SNP309 [3], CASP8 [4] and XRCC3 Thr241Met [5] polymorphisms and breast cancer risk.Sensitivity analyses were performed excluding studies whose allele frequencies in controls exhibited significant deviation from HWE, given that the deviation may denote bias [6]. For the assessment of the deviation from HWE, the appropriate goodness-of-fit x~2 test was performed [6, 7].Of note a deviation from HWE in a mixed control population was allowed as the underlying assumptions of HWE are not fulfilled [8]. For the evaluation of the goodness-of-fit x~2 test, statistical significance was defined as P < 0.05.