Affiliations: Department of Respiratory Disease, The Fourth Affiliated Hospital of China Medical University, Shenyang, Liaoning, China
Correspondence:
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Corresponding author: Jun Zhang, Department of Respiratory Disease, The Fourth Affiliated Hospital of China Medical University, No. 102 Nan Qi Road, He Ping District, Shenyang 110005, Liaoning, China. Tel.: +86 024 62689302; E-mail:zhangjun_1204@126.com
Abstract:
OBJECTIVE: This meta-analysis investigated the
correlation between the promoter methylation of death-associated protein
kinase (DAPK) and the clinicopathological features in patients with non-small
cell lung cancer (NSCLC). METHOD: Scientific literature databases
were exhaustively searched to retrieve published studies relevant to DAPK methylation
and NSCLC. Retrieved studies published in English and Chinese languages were
screened according to the stringent predefined inclusion and exclusion
criteria, and high quality studies were selected for meta-analysis. All
statistical analyses were performed utilizing STATA software (Version 12.0,
Stata Corporation, College Station, TX, USA). RESULTS: A total of
14 published studies (5 in English and 9 in Chinese) were enrolled in the
present meta-analysis, and contained 1238 patients with NSCLC. The results
indicated that NSCLC patients with metastatic phenotype were strongly
associated with significantly higher methylation rate of DAPK compared to NSCLC
patients without metastasis. Additionally, in NSCLC patients carrying tumors
with DAPK methylation, the 5-year survival rate was remarkedly lower than NSCLC
patients without DAPK methylation. However, we did not find significant
correlation between DAPK methylation and histological stage or tumor node
metastasis (TNM) stage in NSCLC patients. CONCLUSION: Our
meta-analysis results reveal that DAPK promoter methylation might be
associated with tumor metastasis and poor prognosis in NSCLC patients,
although no correlation with histological types and TNM stage in NSCLC
patients were found.
