Association of thrombomodulin c.1418C>T polymorphism and venous thromboembolism

Objectives: To investigate the association between thrombomodulin c.1418C>T polymorphism and venous thrombosis.

Methods: Systematic searches of Pubmed, EMBASE, Chinese Biomedical Database, Chinese National Knowledge Infrastructure, the VIP Database and WANFANG Database were performed. Pooled odds ratios (ORs) with 95% confidence intervals (95% CIs) were calculated to assess the strength of the association. Subgroup analysis was conducted to seek for potential sources of heterogeneity.

Results: A total of 8 studies were collected in our analysis, including 2519 cases and 3196 controls. No significant association between thrombomodulin c.1418C>T polymorphism and venous thrombosis was shown under the five genetic models (T vs C: OR=1.02, 95% CI=0.82-1.26; TT vs CC: OR=0.90, 95% CI=0.52-1.56; CT vs CC: OR=1.07, 95% CI=0.84-1.37; CT+TT vs CC: OR=1.05, 95% CI=0.82-1.34; TT vs CT+CC: OR=0.81, 95% CI=0.59-1.11). Similar results were observed in the following subgroup analysis based on ethnicity and source of control. However, an increased risk of venous thrombosis was found in Asian populations under three genetic models (T vs C: OR=1.31, 95% CI=1.01-1.70; CT vs CC: OR=1.41, 95% CI=1.00-2.98; TT+CT vs CC vs CC: OR=1.41, 95% CI=1.02-1.95).

Conclusion: Current studies on the thrombomodulin c.1418C>T polymorphism are of great heterogeneity. It might not be a risk factor for venous thromboembolism.