In conclusion, this meta-analysis suggests that the PARP-1 rs1136410: T > C polymorphism is a susceptibility factor for GI cancers, but the variant allele of MGMT rs12917: C > T polymorphism appears to be a protective factor for colorectal cancer.
In the tumour sites subgroup analysis, only the protective effects of Leu84Phe polymorphism were found in colorectal cancer, under CT versus CC comparison.
Our results suggest that the common Leu84Phe and Ile143Val polymorphisms in MGMT influence risk of colorectal cancer in women possibly through modulating estrogen receptor-dependent transcriptional activation, which has previously been shown to occur in response to DNA alkylation damage.