Association of reduced immunohistochemical expression of E-cadherin with a poor ovarian cancer prognosis--results of a meta-analysis.
OBJECTIVE
E-cadherin is a transmemberane protein which is responsible for adhesion of endothelial cells. The aim of our study was to assess existing evidence of associations between reduced expression of E-cadherin and prognosis of ovarian cancer with a discussion of potential approaches to exploiting any prognostic value for improved clinical management.


METHODS
We conducted a meta-analysis of 9 studies (n=915 patients) focusing on the correlation of reduced expression of E-cadherin with overall survival. Data were synthesized with random or fixed effect hazard ratios.


RESULTS
The studies were categorized by author/year, number of patients, FIGO stage, histology, cutoff value for E-cadherin positivity, and methods of hazard rations (HR) estimation, HR and its 95% confidence interval (CI). Combined hazard ratios suggested that reduced expression of E-cadherin positivity was associated with poor overall survival (OS), HR=2.10, 95% CI:1.13-3.06.


CONCLUSIONS
The overall survival of the E-cadherin negative group with ovarian cancer was significant poorer than the E-cadherin positive group. Upregulation of E-cadherin is an attractive therapeutic approach that could exert significant effects on clinical outcome of ovarian cancer.
Department of Gynecology and Obstetrics, West China Second Hospital, Sichuan University, Chengdu, China.
Hong-Ling
HL
Peng
Lei
L
He
Xia
X
Zhao
D014408:Biomarkers, Tumor / Q000378:metabolism*; D015820:Cadherins / Q000378:metabolism*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007124:Immunoenzyme Techniques; D010051:Ovarian Neoplasms / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000401:mortality; D011379:Prognosis; D015996:Survival Rate
D014408:Biomarkers, Tumor; D015820:Cadherins