Clinicopathological significance of WIF1 hypermethylation in NSCLC, a meta-analysis and literature review

Methylation of the WIF-1 gene can lead to the loss of WIF-1 expression which has been observed in numerous types of cancer including NSCLC. However, the association and clinicopathological significance between WIF-1 promoter hypermethylation and NSCLC remains unclear. In the present study, we performed a meta-analysis to evaluate the clinicopathological significance of WIF-1 hypermethylation in NSCLC. A systematic literature search was carried out using Pubmed, EMBASE, Web of Science and CNKI. The Cochrane software Review manager 5.2 was used. The frequency of WIF-1 hypermethylation was significantly increased in NSCLC compared with normal lung tissue; the pooled OR was 8.67 with 95% CI 1.64-45.88, p = 0.01. The rate of WIF-1 hypermethylation was higher in SCC than in AC, OR was 1.74 with 95% CI 0.97-3.11, p = 0.06. In addition, WIF-1 loss was correlated with low 5-year survival rate. In summary, WIF-1 hypermethylation is a potential biomarker for diagnosis of NSCLC. WIF-1 hypermethylation is predominant in squamous cell carcinoma (SCC), suggesting that WIF-1methylation contributes to the development of NSCLC, especially SCC.