Relationships between abnormal MMP2 expression and prognosis in gastric cancer: a meta-analysis of cohort studies

• Published in: Cancer biotherapy & radiopharmaceuticals Vol. 29; no. 4; pp. 166 - 172
• Main Authors: Wang, He-Ling, Zhou, Ping-Yi, Zhang, Yu, Liu, Peng
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United States Mary Ann Liebert, Inc 01.05.2014
• Subjects: Biomarkers, Tumor - biosynthesis; Cohort Studies; Humans; Matrix Metalloproteinase 2 - biosynthesis; Prognosis; Stomach Neoplasms - enzymology; meta-analysis; matrix metalloproteinases-2; gastric cancer; prognosis
• ISSN: 1084-9785; 1557-8852
• DOI: 10.1089/cbr.2014.1608

We carried out this current meta-analysis of relevant cohort studies in an attempt to investigate the relationships between abnormal matrix metalloproteinases-2 (MMP2) expression and gastric cancer (GC) prognosis. A range of electronic databases were searched for relevant articles without any language restrictions: Web of Science (1945-2013), the Cochrane Library Database (Issue 12, 2013), PubMed (1966-2013), EMBASE (1980-2013), CINAHL (1982-2013), and the Chinese Biomedical Database (CBM) (1982-2013). Meta-analysis was conducted using the STATA 12.0 software. Crude hazard ratios (HRs), with 95% confidence intervals (95% CIs), were calculated. Ten clinical cohort studies with a total of 1669 GC patients were included in this meta-analysis. The results of our meta-analysis suggested that MMP2-positive patients display a shorter overall survival (OS) than MMP2-negative patients (HR=1.31, 95% CI=0.98-1.63, p<0.001). Subgroup analysis based on ethnicity revealed that abnormal MMP2 expression was associated with significantly worse OS in patients with GC among both Caucasian and Asian populations (all p<0.05). Our meta-analysis indicated that abnormal MMP2 expression may be strongly correlated with poor prognosis in patients with GC. Thus, MMP2 expression may serve as an independent prognostic factor for GC.