A meta-analysis of abnormal β-catenin immunohistochemical expression as a prognostic factor in lung cancer: location is more important

Introduction The aim of the study was to evaluate the effect of β-catenin immunohistochemical expression on the prognosis of lung cancer. Materials and methods We searched Pubmed and Embase to identify eligible studies. The enrolled references were between January 1985 and January, 2015, with no lower date limit. The citation lists associated with the studies were used to identify additional eligible studies. The data of β-catenin immunohistochemical expression, clinical features and survival in each eligible article were recorded and analyzed as hazard ratio (HR) and odd ratio (OR). Results A total of 15 studies were identified and comprised 3404 cases. β-catenin expression was not significantly correlated with poor overall survival (OS) in lung cancer patients (HR 0.79, 95 % CI 0.47–1.34), but showed a significant degree of heterogeneity ( I 2 = 95 %, P < 0.0001). Subgroup analysis indicated that accumulation in the nucleus or loss of membrane significantly influences the survival of lung cancer patients independently. But, the result indicated that β-catenin expression was not associated with clinicopathological features such as TNM stage (OR 1.22, 95 % CI 0.69–2.14), T stage (OR 0.86, 95 % CI 0.63–1.17), lymph node metastasis (0.85, 95 % CI 0.41–1.78), distant metastasis (OR 0.82, 95 % CI 0.31–2.18), grade of differentiation (OR 0.92, 95 % CI 0.47–1.80), or vascular invasion (OR 0.99, 95 % CI 0.04–24.10). Conclusion Abnormal β-catenin immunohistochemical expression might be associated with tumor progression and could be a predictive factor of poor prognosis in patients with lung cancer based on more precise evaluation.