A Multi-Ethnic Meta-Analysis Of The Association Between The Tcf7l2 Variant Rs12255372 And Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus

In this meta-analysis, we aimed to evaluate the association of the transcription factor 7-like 2 (TCF7L2) rs12255372 polymorphism with type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) in a multi-ethnic population. Four publication databases were searched for literature about the effect of rs12255372 on genetic susceptibility to T2DM, and then fixed-effects and random-effects meta-analyses were performed in order to estimate the association between rs12255372 and T2DM. Sixty-six studies from fifty-four eligible papers (with 40,418 cases and 45,745 controls) were included in the final meta-analysis. Overall, we found the rs12255372 polymorphism was significantly associated with T2DM (P<0.0001), considering the T allele itself (OR=1.38, 95% CI=1.33-1.44), the TT genotype (OR=1.83, 95% CI=1.68-1.99), or the GT genotype (OR=1.38, 95% CI=1.32-1.45). Publication bias and sensitivity analysis confirmed the meta-analysis results. Thus, we confirmed that rs12255372 T allele is significantly associated with higher risk of T2DM.