ObjectivesTo systematically review the correlation between NFKB1 gene, NFKBIA gene and lung cancer susceptibility.MethodsWeb of Science, PubMed, VIP, CNKI and WanFang Data databases were electronically searched to collect case-control studies on the correlation between NFKB1 gene rs4648127, rs28362491 polymorphisms and NFKBIA gene rs696 polymorphism and lung cancer susceptibility from inception to November, 2018. Two reviewers independently screened literature, extracted data and assessed the risk of bias of included studies; then, meta-analysis was performed by using Stata 12.0 software.ResultsA total of 7 case-control studies were included. The results of meta-analysis showed that: no correlation was found between rs4648127 and lung cancer susceptibility (C vs. T: OR=1.065, 95%CI 0.323 to 3.512, P=0.918). A positive correlation was found in hospital population between rs28362491 (D vs. I: OR=1.290, 95%CI 1.117 to 1.489, P=0.001; DD vs. II: OR=1.707, 95%CI 1.273 to 2.289, P<0.001; DD vs. ID+II: OR=1.409, 95%CI 1.100 to 1.806, P=0.008) and lung cancer. Rs696 polymorphism (A vs. G: OR=1.215, 95%CI 1.105 to 1.336, P<0.001; AA vs. GG: OR=1.438, 95%CI 1.194 to 1.731, P<0.001; GG vs. AG+AA: OR=1.566, 95%CI 1.341 to 1.829, P<0.001) was correlated with lung cancer susceptibility.ConclusionsCurrent evidence shows that NFKB1 gene rs4648127 may not be associated with lung cancer. The rs28362491 pdymorphism of NFKB1 gene in hospital population and rs696 pdymorphism of NFKBIA gene may be positively correlated with lung cancer susceptibility. Due to limited quality and quantity of the included studies, more high quality studies are required to verify above conclusions.