title: Clinicopathological Significance of DLC-1 Expression in Cancer: a Meta-Analysis.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Recent reports have shown that DLC-1 is widely expressed in normal tissues and is down- regulated in a wide range of human tumors, suggesting it may act as a tumor suppressor gene. We conducted a meta-analysis to determine the correlation between DLC-1 expression and clinicopathological characteristics in cancers.
  
  
  METHODS
  A detailed literature search was made for relevant publications from PubMed, EMBASE, Cochrane library databases, Web of Science, CNKI. The methodological quality of the studies was also evaluated. Analyses of pooled data were performed and odds ratios (ORs) were calculated and summarized.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Final analysis was performed of 1,815 cancer patients from 19 eligible studies. We observed that DLC- 1 expression was significantly lower in cancers than in normal tissues. DLC-1 expression was not found to be associated with tumor differentiation status. However, DLC-1 expression was obviously lower in advance stage than in early-stage cancers and was more down-regulated in metastatic than non-metastatic cancers.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The results of our meta-analysis suggested that DLC-1 expression is significantly lower in cancers than in normal tissues. Aberrant DLC-1 expression may play an important role in cancer genesis and metastasis.
authors.affiliation: Department of Basic Medical Science, Department of Human Anatomy, Histology and Embryology, Institute of Neuroscience, Changsha Medical University, Changsha, PR China E-mail : 894269826@qq.com.
authors.forename: Yan
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Jiang
authors.forename: Jian-Ming
authors.initials: JM
authors.lastname: Li
authors.forename: Huai-Qing
authors.initials: HQ
authors.lastname: Luo
mesh_terms: D016022:Case-Control Studies; D020690:GTPase-Activating Proteins / Q000235:genetics*; D020022:Genetic Predisposition to Disease; D006801:Humans; D009367:Neoplasm Staging; D009369:Neoplasms / Q000235:genetics* / Q000473:pathology*; D011110:Polymorphism, Genetic / Q000235:genetics*; D011379:Prognosis; D012307:Risk Factors; D025521:Tumor Suppressor Proteins / Q000235:genetics*
chemical_list: C112352:DLC1 protein, human; D020690:GTPase-Activating Proteins; D025521:Tumor Suppressor Proteins