Abnormal β-catenin immunohistochemical expression as a prognostic factor in gastric cancer: A meta-analysis

Table 1 Baseline characteristics and methodological assessment of the included trials

Ref.	Year	Study location	Patient (M/F)	Luaren classfication			Antibody source	Definition ofβ-catenin expression1	NOS
				Intestinal	Diffuse	Mixed
Ayed-Guerfali et al[13]	2013	Tunisia	80 (45/35)	48	32		Santa Cruz	Normal/abnormal expression	7
Sereno et al[19]	2012	Spain	44 (33/11)	22	13	9	Transduction Laboratories	Normal/abnormal expression	6
Hou et al[20]	2012	China	158 (105/53)				Santa Cruz	Normal/abnormal expression	6
Liu et al[22]	2012	China	134 (90/44)				Santa Cruz	Nuclear expression	5
Sun et al[21]	2012	China	58 (49/9)				Santa Cruz	Normal/abnormal expression	5
Ryu et al[23]	2012	South Korea	276 (NA)				BD Biosciences	Normal/abnormal expression	7
Retterspitz et al[24]	2010	Germany	94 (46/48)	0	88	6	BD Transduction	Membranous expression	8
Kim et al[25]	2010	South Korea	117 (81/36)	40	75	2	BD Transduction	Nuclear expression	8
Czyzewska et al[26]	2010	Poland	91 (62/29)	61	30	0	Novocastra Laboratories Ltd	Membranous expression	6
Zali et al[28]	2009	Iran	56 (38/18)	35	16	5	Research Diagnostic	Normal/abnormal expression	8
Kim et al[29]	2009	South Korea	598 (396/202)				BD Biosciences	Nuclear expression	6
Bazas et al[30]	2008	Ukraine	150 (89/61)	117	33	0	Dako Cytomation	Cytoplasmic expression	8
Koriyama et al[31]	2007	Japan	149 (NA)	99	50	0	Transduction Laboratories	Normal/abnormal expression	8
Jung et al[32]	2007	South Korea	111 (NA)	44	67	0	Transduction Laboratories	Nuclear expression	9
Nabais et al[33]	2003	Portugal	97 (NA)	28	51	18	Transduction Laboratories	Nuclear and cytoplasmic expression	7
Zhou et al[34]	2002	China	163 (123/40)	108	40	15	Maxim Biotech Inc.	Normal/abnormal expression	8
Woo et al[14]	2001	South Korea	303 (205/98)	116	158	29	Transduction Laboratories	Membranous expression	9
Shun et al[35]	2001	Taiwan	53 (NA)	30	23		Transduction Laboratories	Normal/abnormal expression	6
Grabsch et al[36]	2001	Germany	401 (NA)	255	112	34	Transduction Laboratories	Nuclear and cytoplasmic expression	6
Joo et al[37]	2000	South Korea	65 (38/27)	28	25	12	Zymed Laboratories	Normal/abnormal expression	7
Karatzas et al[38]	2000	Greece	36 (NA)	24	12		Transduction Laboratories	Normal/abnormal expression	6
Ohene-Abuakwa et al[39]	2000	United Kingdom	41 (NA)	28	7	6	Transduction Laboratories	Normal/abnormal expression	7
Ramesh et al[15]	1999	United Kingdom	40 (NA)				Affinity Research Products Ltd	Normal/abnormal expression	8
Jawhari et al[40]	1997	England	89 (62/27)	63	24	2	Affinity Research Products Ltd	Normal/abnormal expression	7

¹Different β-catenin location in gastric cancer. NA: Not available; M/F: Male/Female; NOS: Newcastle-Ottawa Quality Assessment Scale.

Table 2 Stratified analysis of pooled hazard ratios

Subgroup analysis	Studies (n)	Pooled HR (95%CI)		P value	Heterogeneity
		Fixed	Random		I2(%)	P value
Definition
Abnormal	5		2.12 (1.31-3.42)	0.002	48	0.10
Nucleus accumulation	5		1.66 (0.90-3.06)	0.270	83	< 0.0001
Loss of membrane expression	5		1.61 (0.88-2.96)	0.0006	75	0.003
Cytoplasmic expression	2	1.52 (1.05-2.19)		0.020	0	0.56
Study location
Asia	9		1.86 (1.23-2.80)	< 0.0001	81	< 0.00001
Other regions	6	1.70 (1.33-2.19)		< 0.0001	9	0.36
No. of patients
> 100	9		1.82 (1.26-2.64)	0.002	81	< 0.00001
≤ 100	6	1.81 (1.31-2.49)		0.0003	3	0.40
Publication year
> 2000	12		1.83 (1.33-2.52)	< 0.00001	76	< 0.00001
≤ 2000	3	2.07 (1.13-3.81)		0.020	0	0.76
Antibody source
BD transduction	3		1.73 (0.64-4.69)	0.280	90	< 0.0001
Transduction lab	3		2.36 (1.06-5.27)	0.040	75	0.02
Santa cruz	3	1.53 (1.18-1.97)		0.001	44	0.17
Other labs	6	1.75 (1.37-2.25)		< 0.00001	7	0.37

Table 3 Meta-analysis of β-catenin expression and clinicopathological features of gastric cancer

Clinicopathological features	Studies (n)	Cases	Pooled OR (95%CI)		P value	Heterogeneity
			Fixed	Random		I2(%)	P value
Lauren classification	17	1793		1.98 (1.19-3.29)	0.009	74	< 0.00001
TNM stage	9	996	1.34 (0.96-1.86)		0.080	44	0.090
The depth of invasion	10	1203		1.48 (0.94-2.33)	0.090	55	0.020
Lymph node metastasis	16	2147		2.00 (1.44-2.77)	< 0.0001	44	0.040
Distant metastasis	4	258	2.69 (1.35-5.38)		0.005	20	0.290
Grade of differentiation	12	1372		2.68 (1.66-4.34)	0.0002	58	0.006
Vascular invasion	3	774	1.11 (0.70-1.76)		0.660	0	0.440

TNM: Tumor-node-metastasis.