Background: Methylation of the tumor suppressor gene H-cadherin (CDH13) has been reported in many cancers. However, the clinical effect of the CDH13 methylation status of patients with bladder cancer remains to be clarified.
Methods: A systematic literature search was performed to identify eligible studies in the PubMed, Embase, EBSCO, CKNI and Wanfang databases. The pooled odds ratio (OR) and the corresponding 95 % confidence interval (95 % CI) was calculated and summarized.
Results: Nine eligible studies were included in the present meta-analysis consisting of a total of 1017 bladder cancer patients and 265 non-tumor controls. A significant association was found between CDH13 methylation levels and bladder cancer (OR = 21.71, P < 0.001). The results of subgroup analyses based on sample type suggested that CDH13 methylation was significantly associated with bladder cancer risk in both the tissue and the urine (OR = 53.94, P < 0.001; OR = 7.71, P < 0.001; respectively). A subgroup analysis based on ethnic population showed that the OR value of methylated CDH13 was higher in Asians than in Caucasians (OR = 35.18, P < 0.001; OR = 8.86, P < 0.001; respectively). The relationships between CDH13 methylation and clinicopathological features were also analyzed. A significant association was not observed between CDH13 methylation status and gender (P = 0.053). Our results revealed that CDH13 methylation was significantly associated with high-grade bladder cancer, multiple bladder cancer and muscle invasive bladder cancer (OR = 2.22, P < 0.001; OR = 1.45, P = 0.032; OR = 3.42, P < 0.001; respectively).
Conclusion: Our study indicates that CDH13 methylation may play an important role in the carcinogenesis, development and progression of bladder cancer. In addition, CDH13 methylation has the potential to be a useful biomarker for bladder cancer screening in urine samples and to be a prognostic biomarker in the clinic.
Keywords: Biomarker; Bladder cancer; CDH13 methylation; Screening.