PLoS ONE (Jan 2013)

β-catenin overexpression in the nucleus predicts progress disease and unfavourable survival in colorectal cancer: a meta-analysis.

  • Zhigang Chen,
  • Xin He,
  • Minyue Jia,
  • Yang Liu,
  • Dihong Qu,
  • Dang Wu,
  • Pin Wu,
  • Chao Ni,
  • Zhigang Zhang,
  • Jun Ye,
  • Jinghong Xu,
  • Jian Huang

DOI
https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0063854
Journal volume & issue
Vol. 8, no. 5
p. e63854

Abstract

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Backgroundβ-catenin plays a key role in the progression of colorectal cancer (CRC). However, its prognostic significance for patients with CRC remains controversial.MethodologyIdentical search strategies were used to search relevant literatures in the PubMed, Embase and Web of Science databases. The correlation between β-catenin expression and clinicopathological features and prognosis was analyzed.Principal findingsA total of 18 studies met the inclusion criteria, which comprised 3665 cases. Meta-analysis suggested that β-catenin overexpression in the nucleus was significantly associated with disease free survival (DFS) (n = 541 in 3 studies; HR = 1.87, 95% CI: 1.28-2.71; Z = 3.26; P = 0.001) and overall survival (OS) for CRC patients (n = 2630 in 10 studies; HR = 1.55, 95% CI: 1.12-2.14; Z = 2.62; P = 0.009). However, there was no significant association between β-catenin expression in the cytoplasm and OS (n = 1327 in 3 studies; HR = 1.04, 95% CI: 0.88-1.24, Z = 0.46, P = 0.643). The combined odds ratio (OR) of β-catenin in the nucleus indicated that β-catenin overexpression was associated with advanced stage CRC (n = 950 in 7 studies; OR = 0.71, 95% CI: 0.53-0.94; Z = 2.35; P = 0.019) and metastasis of CRC (n = 628 in 5 studies; OR = 0.49, 95% CI: 0.25-0.96, Z = 2.06, P = 0.039). β-catenin overexpression in the nucleus had no correlation with the tumor site (colon or rectum), differentiation grade, lymph node status or depth of invasion. The pooled ORs were 1.09 (95% CI: 0.41-2.91, Z = 0.18, P = 0.856), 1.27(95% CI: 0.76-2.10, Z = 0.92, P = 0.357), 0.71(95% CI: 0.46-1.09, Z = 1.58, P = 0.115) and 0.82(95% CI: 0.4-1.68, Z = 0.53, P = 0.594).ConclusionsThis study showed that β-catenin overexpression in the nucleus, rather than in the cytoplasm, appeared to be associated with progress disease and a worse prognosis for CRC patients.