Background: H-cadherin (CDH13) is commonly downregulated through promoter methylation in various cancers. However, the role of CDH13 promoter methylation status in patients with colorectal cancer (CRC) remains to be clarified.
Methods: Eligible articles were identified from online electronic database based on the preferred reporting items for systematic reviews and meta-analyses (PRISMA) statement criteria. The pooled odds ratio (OR) and the corresponding 95% confidence interval (95% CI) were calculated and analyzed.
Results: Eventually, a total of nine studies were included in this meta-analysis, including 488 CRC, 298 adjacent, 144 normal, 68 premalignant tissues. The results demonstrated that CDH13 promoter methylation was notably higher in CRC than in normal, adjacent, and premalignant tissues (cancer tissues vs normal tissues: OR = 16.94, P < 0.001; cancer tissues vs adjacent tissues: OR = 20.06, P < 0.001; cancer tissues vs premalignant tissues: OR = 2.23, P = 0.038). CDH13 promoter methylation had a significantly increased risk for poorly differentiated CRC (OR = 4.07, P = 0.001). CDH13 promoter methylation was not associated with sex status, tumor stage, and lymph node status (all P > 0.05). One study with 85 CRC patients reported that CDH13 promoter methylation was correlated with poor prognosis in overall survival (OS).
Conclusions: CDH13 promoter methylation may play an important role in the initiation and progression of CRC, and may be correlated with OS of patients with CRC. Additional studies with large sample sizes are needed to further confirm our findings in the future.