Studying the Association between STAT4 Gene Polymorphism and Susceptibility to Rheumatoid Arthritis Disease: An Updated Meta-Analysis

STAT4 is a transcription factor that plays a role in various cytokine signaling pathways and in T cell subsets differentiation. Several studies have reported STAT4 gene polymorphism in association with various autoimmune diseases. To evaluated the association between STAT4 rs7574865 SNP and RA risk by meta-analysis. Two major databases, namely Scopus and PubMed, were searched to find studies investigating the STAT4 polymorphism and RA in different populations up to November 2017. Association between STAT4 polymorphism and RA were analyzed using pooled odds ratio (OR) and their corresponding 95% CI. In this meta-analysis, 21 population studies (16 papers) comprising 15,732 cases and 15641 healthy subjects evaluating the STAT4 gene rs7574865 SNP were included based on inclusion criteria. Herein, we found a significant positive association between minor T allele as well as different genotypes with the risk of RA. In summary, this study revealed an association between STAT4 gene rs7574865 SNP and risk of RA.