Prognostic value and clinicopathological significance of epithelial cadherin expression in non-small cell lung cancer

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). CONCLUSION: 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.