CTLA-4 gene polymorphisms and susceptibility to type 1 diabetes mellitus: a HuGE Review and meta-analysis

The authors performed a meta-analysis of 33 studies examining the association of type 1 diabetes mellitus with polymorphisms in the cytotoxic T-lymphocyte-associated antigen-4 (CTLA-4) gene, including the A49G (29 comparisons), C(-318)T (three comparisons), and (AT)n microsatellite (six comparisons) polymorphisms. The studies included 5,637 cases of type 1 diabetes and 6,759 controls (4,775 and 5,829, respectively, for analysis of the A49G polymorphism). The random-effects odds ratio for the *G (Ala) allele versus the *A (Thr) allele was 1.45 (95% confidence interval (CI): 1.28, 1.65), with significant between-study heterogeneity (p < 0.001). The effect size tended to be higher in type 1 diabetes cases with age of onset <20 years (odds ratio (OR) = 1.61), and there was a significant association between the presence of glutamic acid decarboxylase-65 autoantibodies and the *G allele among type 1 diabetes cases (OR = 1.49). Larger studies showed more conservative results (p = 0.011). After exclusion of studies with fewer than 150 subjects and studies with significant deviation from Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium in the controls, the summary odds ratio was 1.40 (95% CI: 1.28, 1.54). Available data showed no strong association for the 106-base-pair allele of the microsatellite polymorphism (OR = 0.99, 95% CI: 0.64, 1.55) or the *T allele of the C(-318)T polymorphism (OR = 0.92, 95% CI: 0.45, 1.89). This meta-analysis demonstrates that the CTLA-4*G genotype is associated with type 1 diabetes.