association of ntcp gene polymorphisms and spontaneous clearance of hepatitis b virus in asia: a meta-analysis

Context: it is reported that ntcp (sodium taurocholate cotransporting polypeptide) gene polymorphisms are associated with spontaneous clearance of hepatitis b virus (hbv), but the results are contradictory. therefore, the current meta-analysis aimed at systematically clarifying the association between ntcp gene polymorphisms and spontaneous clearance of hbv in asia. evidence acquisition: pubmed, embase, web of science, scopus, china national knowledge infrastructure and china wanfang data were searched systematically for articles published before 09 august 2019. results: a total of nine case-control studies were finally included in the current meta-analysis. the pooled results indicated that the ntcp gene rs2296651 a allele is a protective factor for spontaneous clearance of hbv (gg vs. ga+aa: odds ratio (or) = 0.73, 95% confidence interval (ci) = 0.58 - 0.93; gg vs. ga: or = 0.74, 95%ci = 0.59 - 0.93; g vs. a allele: or = 0.74, 95%ci = 0.58 - 0.94). conclusions: ntcp gene rs2296651 polymorphism is correlated with spontaneous clearance of hbv, while ntcp gene rs4646287 and rs7154439 variants are not associated with persistent hbv susceptibility.