ABO Blood Groups and Risk of Cancer: a Systematic Review and Meta-analysis

Abstract

Background: For decades, studies have been performed to evaluate the association between ABO blood groups and risk of cancer. However, whether ABO blood groups are associated with overall cancer risk remains unclear. We therefore conducted a meta-analysis of observational studies to assess this association. Materials and Methods: A search of Pubmed, Embase, ScienceDirect, Wiley, and Web of Knowledge databases (to May 2013) was supplemented by manual searches of bibliographies of key retrieved articles and relevant reviews. We included case-control studies and cohort studies with more than 100 cancer cases. Results: The search yielded 89 eligible studies that reported 100,554 cases at 30 cancer sites. For overall cancer risk, the pooled OR was 1.12 (95%CI: between ABO blood groups and overall cancer risk still remains unclear. Therefore, we conducted a systematic review and meta-analysis to evaluate the association between ABO blood groups and overall cancer risk, as well as the risk of individual cancer sites.1 Materials and Methods Search strategyWe performed a systematic literature search (up to May 2013) of Pubmed, Embase, ScienceDirect, Wiley, and Web of Knowledge for studies reporting the association between ABO blood groups (self-reported or lab tested) and cancer risk. In addition, we searched the reference lists of relevant articles and reviews. Only articles published in English were considered. Two search themes were combined using the Boolean operator 'and'. The first theme, cancer, combined exploded versions of the Medical Subject Headings (MeSH) cancer, tumor, carcinoma, neoplasm or malignancy. The second theme, blood group, combined exploded versions of MeSH terms blood group, or blood type.

Frequency of expression and the distribution of ABO and Rh, Blood group antigens in the myocardial infarction (MI) male Patients of the Hail region in Saudi Arabia

“…In the recent past inheritance of ABO blood groups has been linked to various diseases such as diabetes [4,5] many types of cancers [6] and cardiovascular diseases [7]. Although several studies have been published showing the association between the inheritance of blood groups (ABO and Rh antigens) and cardiovascular diseases [8][9][10], coronary artery disease [7], ischemic heart disease (IHD) [11], however results have not been consistent.…”

ABO Blood Group, Epstein-Barr virus Infection and Prognosis of Patients with Non-metastatic Nasopharyngeal Carcinoma

“…Several factors have been proved to enhance the risk of NPC, including Epstein-Barr virus (EBV), smoking, alcohol consumption, salt-preserved foods and family history of cancer, etc (Chien et al, 2001;Jia et al, 2010;Ji et al, 2011;Hashim et al, 2012).Extensive investigations have showed that the ABO blood group might be associated with risk to certain malignancies (Iodice et al, 2010;Gates et al, 2011;Joh et al, 2012;Wang et al, 2012;Zhang et al, 2014). A previous study suggested that blood type A or AB was associated with an increased risk of NPC and male patients with blood group A had higher rates of distant …”

“…Extensive investigations have showed that the ABO blood group might be associated with risk to certain malignancies (Iodice et al, 2010;Gates et al, 2011;Joh et al, 2012;Wang et al, 2012;Zhang et al, 2014). A previous study suggested that blood type A or AB was associated with an increased risk of NPC and male patients with blood group A had higher rates of distant …”

Association between ABO Genotype and Risk of Hepatocellular Carcinoma in Koreans

“…An association between ABO blood group and some malignant cancers has been suggested in several studies, including a metaanalysis (Zhang et al, 2014). Blood group A increases the risk of cancer, including stomach (Song et al, 2013), ovarian (Poole et al, 2012), and pancreatic (Wang et al, 2012) cancer, and non-O blood groups increase the risk of renal cell cancer (Joh et al, 2012), colorectal cancer (Urun et al, 2012), and skin cancer (Xie et al, 2010).…”