• Jiaao Gu, Fulin Guan, Guofa Guan, Gongping Xu, Xintao Wang, Wei Zhao, Ye Ji, and Jinglong Yan.
• From the Department of The First Affiliated Hospital of Harbin Medical University, Harbin, Heilongjiang Province, People's Republic of China.
• Spine. 2013 Dec 1;38(25):E1600-7.

Study DesignData on the association between the ACAN (encoded for aggrecan core protein) variable number of tandem repeat (VNTR) polymorphism and lumbar disc degeneration are conflicting, so we performed a meta-analysis.ObjectiveAggrecan is involved in the shock absorbing function of the lumbar disc; we performed a meta-analysis to assess the association between ACAN VNTR and lumbar degeneration.Summary Of Background DataTo perform a meta-analysis, we searched for studies published until September 2012, using electronic databases (PubMed, EMBASE, and China National Knowledge Infrastructure). Eight studies involving 965 cases of lumbar disc degeneration and 982 control subjects were identified.MethodsAssessment for eligibility and extraction of data were performed by 2 independent investigators. We extracted allele frequency for each study. We calculated the pooled odds ratios (ORs) and 95% confidence intervals (CI) to assess the strength of the association between the ACAN VNTR polymorphism and lumbar disc degeneration risk.ResultsResults from the allele model suggested an increased risk of lumbar disc degeneration for the shorter alleles carriers compared with the normal alleles and longer alleles (OR = 1.54, 95% CI: 1.04-2.30, P = 0.03). In subgroup analysis by ethnicity, significant increased risks were found among Asians with shorter alleles (OR=1.65, 95% CI: 1.17-2.33, P = 0.004).ConclusionOur results suggest an increased risk of shorter alleles compared with normal alleles and longer alleles against lumbar disc degeneration among populations especially among Asian descent. Such association may not be statistically significant in European populations.

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