BACKGROUND

Methylation of tumor suppressor gene promoter leads to transcription inactivation and is involved in tumorigenesis. Several studies demonstrate a potential association between the Death-Associated Protein Kinase (DAPK) gene promoter methylation and bladder cancer risk, tumor stage and histological grade. Due to inconsistent results of these studies, we performed this meta-analysis to ascertain the association.

METHODS

Studies were retrieved from the PubMed, Embase, Web of Science and the Cochrane Library databases. Study selection and data extraction were executed by two reviewers independently. Meta-analysis was performed using Stata 13.0 and Review Manager 5.3 software.

RESULTS

A total of 21 articles involving 15 case control and 8 case series studies were included in this meta-analysis. DAPK promoter methylation was associated with bladder cancer risk (OR: 5.81; 95%CI = 3.83-8.82, P<0.00001). The frequency of DAPK promoter methylation was equal in bladder cancer tissue and paired adjacent normal tissue (OR: 0.87; 95%CI = 0.31-2.48, P = 0.794). Furthermore, DAPK promoter methylation was associated with higher histological grade (OR: 1.52; 95%CI = 1.10-2.09, P = 0.011) but not associated with tumor stage (OR: 1.12; 95%CI = 0.67-1.87, P = 0.668).

CONCLUSIONS

The result suggests that DAPK promoter methylation is significantly increased in bladder cancer patients compared to normal controls. DAPK promoter methylation could serve as a biomarker for bladder cancer detection and management.