title: Association between DAPK1 promoter methylation and cervical cancer: a meta-analysis.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Death-associated protein kinase1 (DAPK1) is an important tumor suppressor gene. DNA methylation can inactivate genes, which has often been observed in the carcinogenesis of cervical cancer. During the past several decades, many studies have explored the association between DAPK1 promoter methylation and cervical cancer. However, many studies were limited by the small samples size and the findings were inconsistent among them. Thus, we conducted a meta-analysis to assess the association between DAPK1 promoter methylation and cervical cancer.
  
  
  METHODS
  We systematically searched eligible studies in the PubMed, Web of Science, EMBASE and CNKI databases. Using meta-regression, subgroup analysis and sensitivity analysis, we explored the potential sources of heterogeneity. The odds ratio (OR) and 95% confidence interval (95% CI) were calculated by Meta-Analysis in R.
  
  
  RESULTS
  A total of 15 studies from 2001 to 2012, comprising 818 tumor tissues samples and 671 normal tissues samples, were analyzed in this meta-analysis. The frequencies of DAPK1 promoter methylation ranged from 30.0% to 78.6% (median, 59.3%) in cervical cancer tissue and 0.0% to 46.7% (median, 7.8%) in normal cervical tissue. The pooled OR was 19.66 (95%CI = 8.72-44.31) with the random effects model, and heterogeneity was found through the sensitivity analysis. The I2 = 60% (P = 0.002) decreased to I2 = 29.2% (P = 0.144) when one heterogeneous study was excluded, and the pooled OR increased to 21.80 (95%CI = 13.44-35.36) with the fixed effects model.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The results suggested a strong association between DAPK1 promoter methylation and cervical cancer. This study also indicated that DAPK1 promoter methylation may be a biomarker during cervical carcinogenesis that might serve as an early indication of cervical cancer.
authors.affiliation: Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Tongji Hospital, Tongji Medical College, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, Hubei, China.
authors.forename: Jiaqiang
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Xiong
authors.affiliation: Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Tongji Hospital, Tongji Medical College, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, Hubei, China.
authors.forename: Ya
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Li
authors.affiliation: Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Tongji Hospital, Tongji Medical College, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, Hubei, China.
authors.forename: Kecheng
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Huang
authors.affiliation: Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, and the Ministry of Education Key Lab of Environment and Health, School of Public Health, Tongji Medical College, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, Hubei, China.
authors.forename: Meixia
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Lu
authors.affiliation: Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, and the Ministry of Education Key Lab of Environment and Health, School of Public Health, Tongji Medical College, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, Hubei, China.
authors.forename: Hao
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Shi
authors.affiliation: Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Tongji Hospital, Tongji Medical College, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, Hubei, China.
authors.forename: Lanfang
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Ma
authors.affiliation: Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Tongji Hospital, Tongji Medical College, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, Hubei, China.
authors.forename: Aiyue
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Luo
authors.affiliation: Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Tongji Hospital, Tongji Medical College, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, Hubei, China.
authors.forename: Shuhong
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Yang
authors.affiliation: Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Tongji Hospital, Tongji Medical College, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, Hubei, China.
authors.forename: Zhiyong
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Lu
authors.affiliation: Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Tongji Hospital, Tongji Medical College, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, Hubei, China.
authors.forename: Jinjin
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.affiliation: Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, The First Affiliated Hospital of Nanchang University, Nanchang, Jiangxi, China.
authors.forename: Lilan
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Yang
authors.affiliation: Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Tongji Hospital, Tongji Medical College, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, Hubei, China.
authors.forename: Shixuan
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Wang
mesh_terms: D019175:DNA Methylation; D064550:Death-Associated Protein Kinases / Q000235:genetics*; D005260:Female; D005787:Gene Frequency; D056726:Genetic Association Studies; D020022:Genetic Predisposition to Disease; D006801:Humans; D011401:Promoter Regions, Genetic; D002583:Uterine Cervical Neoplasms / Q000235:genetics*
chemical_list: C579096:DAPK1 protein, human; D064550:Death-Associated Protein Kinases