title: Prognostic value and clinicopathological significance of epithelial cadherin expression in non-small cell lung cancer.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Epithelial cadherin (E-cadherin), a calcium-dependent cell-cell adhesion molecule, as an important adhesion and signaling pathway mediator plays key roles in the maintenance of tissue integrity. However, the available results of E-cadherin expression and its prognostic value on non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) remain controversial. Therefore, a meta-analysis of published studies investigating the prognostic value of E-cadherin expression and its association with clinicopathological characteristics with NSCLC was performed.
  
  
  METHODS
  A literature search via PubMed, EMBASE, and MEDLINE (Ovid) databases was conducted. Data from eligible studies were extracted. Statistical analysis was performed using STATA 12.0.
  
  
  RESULTS
  A total of 2412 patients from 15 studies were included in the meta-analysis. The results showed that the pooled hazard ratio (HR) for overall survival was 0.55 (95% confidence interval [CI]: 0.44-0.69) by univariate analysis and 0.68 (95% CI: 0.43-1.08) by multivariate analysis. In addition, the results showed a significant association between E-cadherin expression and the presence of lymph node metastasis (odds ratio = 0.37, 95% CI=0.05-0.69, P = 0.001).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Our study showed that positive expression of E-cadherin was associated with a favorable prognosis in patients with NSCLC, and might act as an inhibition factor of metastasis. However, adequately designed prospective studies are required to confirm this finding.
authors.affiliation: Department of Respiratory Medicine, West China Hospital, Sichuan University Chengdu, China.
authors.forename: Zhi-Xin
authors.initials: ZX
authors.lastname: Qiu
authors.affiliation: Department of Respiratory Medicine, West China Hospital, Sichuan University Chengdu, China.
authors.forename: Shuang
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Zhao
authors.affiliation: Department of Respiratory Medicine, West China Hospital, Sichuan University Chengdu, China.
authors.forename: Lei
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Li
authors.affiliation: Department of Respiratory Medicine, West China Hospital, Sichuan University Chengdu, China.
authors.forename: Wei-Min
authors.initials: WM
authors.lastname: Li
keywords: E-cadherin; meta-analysis; metastasis; non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC); overall survival (OS)