Lack of association between the CDH1 polymorphism and gastric cancer susceptibility: a meta-analysis.

E-Cadherin (CDH1) plays a key role in cell adhesion, which is vital to the normal development and maintenance of cells. Down regulation of CDH1, may lead to dysfunction of the cell-cell adhesion system, resulting in increased susceptibility to tumor development and subsequent tumor cell invasion and metastasis. The CDH1 C-160A polymorphism could decrease its transcription efficiency and may increase susceptibility to cancer development, but its relevance to gastric cancer is generally disputed. Consequently, we performed a meta-analysis of published case-control studies, including 4218 gastric cancer cases and 5461 controls. Overall, no significant association was observed between the CDH1 C-160A polymorphism and risk of gastric cancer in all genetic models. In the stratified analysis by total sample size, a significant association was observed in the small sample size subgroup (total sample size < 300), but the results should be interpreted with caution. In conclusion, this meta-analysis failed to confirm the association between the CDH1 C-160A polymorphism and risk of gastric cancer. Large-scale and well-designed studies are needed to confirm our findings.