Clinicopathological significance and potential drug target of RUNX3 in non-small cell lung cancer: a meta-analysis

Lijun Xu,1 Hongwen Lan,1 Yushu Su,1 Jun Li,1 Jingwen Wan2 1Department of Cardiothoracic Surgery, Tongji Hospital, Tongji Medical College, Huazhong University ofScience and Technology, Wuhan, 2Department of Surgery (Operation Room), Tongji Hospital, Tongji Medical College, Huazhong University of Science andTechnology, Hubei, People’s Republic of China Background: Emerging evidence indicates that RUNX3 is a candidate tumor suppressor in several types of human tumors, including non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). However, the correlation between RUNX3 hypermethylation and clinicopathological characteristics of NSCLC remains unclear. Here, we conducted a systematic review and meta-analysis to quantitatively evaluate the effects of RUNX3 hypermethylation on the incidence of NSCLC and clinicopathological characteristics.Methods: A detailed literature search was made using Medline, Embase and Web of Science for related research publications written in English. The methodological quality of the studies was evaluated. The data were extracted and assessed independently by two reviewers. Analysis of pooled data was performed. The odds ratio (OR) and hazard ratio were calculated and summarized.Results: Final analysis of 911 NSCLC patients from 13 eligible studies was performed. We observed that RUNX3 hypermethylation was significantly higher in NSCLC than in normal lung tissue; the pooled OR from seven studies including 361 NSCLC and 345 normal lung tissue (OR 7.08, confidence interval 4.12–12.17, P