Different Associations Between the IREB2 Variants and Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease Susceptibility

Background: Iron responsive element binding protein 2 (IREB2) variants may be involved in the pathogenesis of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). Recently, many studies have been performed on IREB2 susceptibility variants, including rs2568494, rs2656069, rs10851906, rs12593229, and rs13180, associated with COPD. However, inconsistent findings have been reported. The aim of our research was to determine the association of IREB2 SNPs with COPD.

Methods: A comprehensive meta-analysis was performed to accurately estimate the association between IREB2 variants and COPD among four different genetic models.

Results: This meta-analysis included a total of 4,096 patients and 5,870 controls. Here, we investigated the 5 IREB2 variants to identify COPD risk. Our results indicate that rs2568494 was associated with an increased risk of COPD for the dominant model (AA+GA vs. GG: OR = 1.150, 95% CI: 1.5–1.304, P = 0.029); rs2656069 was associated with a decreased risk of COPD for the recessive model (GG vs. AA+AG: OR = 0.589, 95% CI: 0.440–0.789; P = 0.000), additive model (GG vs. AA: OR =0.641, 95% CI: 0.441–0.931; P = 0.020), and allele model (G vs. A: OR = 0.812, 95% CI: 0.668–0.988; P = 0.037); and rs10851906 was associated with a decreased risk of COPD for the recessive model (GG vs. AA+AG: OR = 0.732, 95% CI: 0.560–0.958; P = 0.023) and additive model (GG vs. AA: OR = 0.777, 95% CI: 0.637–0.947; P = 0.012).

Conclusion: Our findings suggest that the IREB2 rs2568494 minor alleles A may be a genetic factor in susceptibility to COPD. In addition, the minor alleles G of rs2656069 and rs10851906 appear to have a protective effect.