Could the methylation of RASSF1A be the potential epigenetic biomarker for nasopharyngeal carcinoma? – Systematic review and meta-analysis

Abstract

<jats:title>Abstract</jats:title> <jats:p><jats:bold>Background:</jats:bold> <jats:italic>RASSF1A</jats:italic> is a tumor suppressor gene. The methylation of <jats:italic>RASSF1A</jats:italic> has been reported to be associated with the nasopharyngeal tumorigenesis. Aiming to evaluate the association between the <jats:italic>RASSF1A </jats:italic>gene methylation and nasopharyngeal cancer, and its correlation could be used as an epigenetic biomarker for NPC cancer risk based on meta-analysis.<jats:bold>Methods:</jats:bold> Relevant articles were identified by searching MEDLINE database. The frequency and Odds ratio (OR) were applied to estimate the effect of <jats:italic>CDH-1</jats:italic> methylation based on random-/fix-effects models. Furthermore, subgroup analyses were performed by test-method, ethnicity, source of NPC samples.<jats:bold>Results:</jats:bold> Total of 16 studies, included 1,766 samples: 1,178 samples from NPC samples, and 588 samples from non-cancerous samples, were enrolled in the meta-analysis. The overall frequency of <jats:italic>RASSF1A</jats:italic> methylation were 55.98% and 1.70% in case-group and control-group, respectively. By removing the poor relative studies, the heterogeneity was not observed among included studies. The association between the <jats:italic>RASSF1A</jats:italic> gene methylation and risk of NPC was also confirmed by calculating OR value of 51.43 (95%OR = 28.12-94.08) in fix-effects model (Q = 10.63, p = 0.99, I<jats:sup>2</jats:sup> = 0.00, 95% CI = 0.00-0.00). Additionally, the significant association was also found between the methylation of <jats:italic>RASSF1A</jats:italic> gene and subgroups.<jats:bold>Conclusion:</jats:bold> this was the first meta-analysis provided scientific evidences to suggest the <jats:italic>RASSF1A </jats:italic>methylation was the potential biomarker for risk of NPC.</jats:p>