Meta-analysis of the association between APC promoter methylation and colorectal cancer

• Main Authors: Ding ZY, Jiang T, Piao Y, Han T, Han YL, Xie XD
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Dove Medical Press 2015-01-01
• Series: OncoTargets and Therapy
• Online Access: http://www.dovepress.com/meta-analysis-of-the-association-between-apc-promoter-methylation-and--peer-reviewed-article-OTT

Zhenyu Ding,1,* Tong Jiang,2,* Ying Piao,1 Tao Han,1 Yaling Han,3 Xiaodong Xie1 1Department of Oncology, General Hospital of Shenyang Military Region, Shenyang City, Liaoning Province, 2Laboratory of Military Health in Cold Region, Center for Disease Control and Prevention of Shenyang Military Region, Shenyang City, Liaoning Province, 3Institute of Cardiovascular Disease, General Hospital of Shenyang Military Region, Shenyang City, Liaoning Province, People’s Republic of China *These authors contributed equally to this work Abstract: Previous studies investigating the association between adenomatous polyposis coli (APC) gene promoter methylation and colorectal cancer (CRC) have yielded conflicting results. The aim of this study was to comprehensively evaluate the potential application of the detection of APC promoter methylation to the prevention and treatment of CRC. PubMed, Embase, and MEDLINE (results updated to October 2014) were searched for relevant studies. The effect size was defined as the weighted odds ratio (OR), which was calculated using either the fixed-effects or random-effects model. Prespecified subgroup and sensitivity analyses were conducted to evaluate potential heterogeneity among the included studies. Nineteen studies comprising 2,426 participants were selected for our meta-analysis. The pooled results of nine studies comprising a total of 740 subjects indicated that APC promoter methylation was significantly associated with CRC risk (pooled OR 5.53; 95% confidence interval [CI] 3.50–8.76; P<0.01). Eleven studies with a total of 1,219 patients evaluated the association between APC promoter methylation and the presence of CRC metastasis, and the pooled OR was 0.80 (95% CI 0.44–1.46; P=0.47). A meta-analysis conducted with four studies with a total of 467 patients found no significant correlation between APC promoter methylation and the presence of colorectal adenoma (pooled OR 1.85; 95% CI 0.67–5.10; P=0.23). No significant correlation between APC promoter methylation and patients’ Dukes’ stage, TNM stage, differentiation grade, age, or sex was identified. In conclusion, APC promoter methylation was found to be significantly associated with a higher risk of developing CRC. The findings indicate that APC promoter methylation may be a potential biomarker for the carcinogenesis of CRC. Keywords: APC promoter methylation, colorectal cancer, meta-analysis