title: Association between aberrant APC promoter methylation and breast cancer pathogenesis: a meta-analysis of 35 observational studies.
abstract: Background. Adenomatous polyposis coli (APC) is widely known as an antagonist of the Wnt signaling pathway via the inactivation of β-catenin. An increasing number of studies have reported that APC methylation contributes to the predisposition to breast cancer (BC). However, recent studies have yielded conflicting results. Methods. Herein, we systematically carried out a meta-analysis to assess the correlation between APC methylation and BC risk. Based on searches of the Cochrane Library, PubMed, Web of Science and Embase databases, the odds ratio (OR) with 95% confidence interval (CI) values were pooled and summarized. Results. A total of 31 articles involving 35 observational studies with 2,483 cases and 1,218 controls met the inclusion criteria. The results demonstrated that the frequency of APC methylation was significantly higher in BC cases than controls under a random effect model (OR = 8.92, 95% CI [5.12-15.52]). Subgroup analysis further confirmed the reliable results, regardless of the sample types detected, methylation detection methods applied and different regions included. Interestingly, our results also showed that the frequency of APC methylation was significantly lower in early-stage BC patients than late-stage ones (OR = 0.62, 95% CI [0.42-0.93]). Conclusion. APC methylation might play an indispensable role in the pathogenesis of BC and could be regarded as a potential biomarker for the diagnosis of BC.
authors.affiliation: Department of Translational Medicine, Xiamen Institute of Rare Earth Materials, Xiamen, China; Department of Translational Medicine, Key Laboratory of Design and Assembly of Functional Nanostructures, Fujian Provincial Key Laboratory of Nanomaterials, Fujian Institute of Research on the Structure of Matter, Fuzhou, China.
authors.forename: Dan
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Zhou
authors.affiliation: Department of Medical Oncology, The First Affiliated Hospital of Xiamen University , Xiamen , China.
authors.forename: Weiwei
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Tang
authors.affiliation: Department of Medical Oncology, The First Affiliated Hospital of Xiamen University , Xiamen , China.
authors.forename: Wenyi
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.affiliation: Department of Medical Oncology, The First Affiliated Hospital of Xiamen University , Xiamen , China.
authors.forename: Xiaoyan
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Pan
authors.affiliation: Department of Medical Oncology, The First Affiliated Hospital of Xiamen University , Xiamen , China.
authors.forename: Han-Xiang
authors.initials: HX
authors.lastname: An
authors.affiliation: Department of Translational Medicine, Xiamen Institute of Rare Earth Materials, Xiamen, China; Department of Translational Medicine, Key Laboratory of Design and Assembly of Functional Nanostructures, Fujian Provincial Key Laboratory of Nanomaterials, Fujian Institute of Research on the Structure of Matter, Fuzhou, China.
authors.forename: Yun
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Zhang
keywords: APC; Breast cancer; Meta-analysis; Methylation