High HER-2 protein levels correlate with clinicopathological features in colorectal cancer

Aim: To obtain a correlation between HER-2 expression and the clinicopathological features incolorectal cancers (CRCs) using a meta-analysis based approach. Materials and Methods: Electronic databases and reference lists were searched for relevant published studies. After inclusion and exclusion criteria were applied, case and control studies related to research topic were included in present meta-analysis. Data analysis was performed using Comprehensive Meta Analysis (CMA) 2.0 software. Result: A total of 30 studies comprising 4,942 CRC patients and 521 healthy controls met the inclusion criteria. Our major results implied that the expression level of HER-2 was significantly higher in CRC patients than healthy controls (odds ratio (OR) = 10.436, 95% confidence interval (CI) = 5.498-19.810, P < 0.001). Sample stratification based on Dukes stages suggested that increased expression level of HER-2 protein was found in CRC patients with Dukes C/D compared with CRC patients with Dukes A/B (OR = 0.335, 95% CI = 0.198-0.568, P < 0.001). The current meta-analysis also found that, in CRC patients with lymph node metastasis (LNM), the HER-2 expression was significantly higher than that in CRC patients without LNM (OR = 1.987, 95% CI = 1.209-3.265, P = 0.007). Conclusion: Our meta-analysis study strongly suggests that HER-2 expression levels are clearly correlated with the clinicopathological features in CRC; therefore, HER-2 may be a potential biomarker for diagnosis and prognosis of CRC.