Aims: The prognostic role of dickkopf-1 (DKK1) in gastric cancer (GC) remains poorly characterized. We performed a meta-analysis to evaluate correlations between DKK1 overexpression and the prognosis of patients with GC.
Materials and methods: We included five published studies to assess the relationship between DKK1 and the clinicopathological characteristics and overall survival of GC patients. Literature searches, article selection, data collection, and statistical analysis were performed using RevMan 5.3 software.
Results: Our analyses revealed that DKK1 overexpression was significantly associated with vascular invasion (odds ratio [OR] = 2.43, 95% confidence interval [CI] = [1.21, 4.89], p = 0.01, random effect), lymphatic invasion (OR = 2.61, 95% CI = [1.30, 5.24], p = 0.007, random effect), and distant metastasis (OR = 2.99, 95% CI = [1.95, 4.59], p < 0.00001, fixed effect). Moreover, we also found that DKK1 overexpression was significantly associated with poor overall survival in GC patients (risk ratio = 2.67, 95% CI = [2.24, 3.48], p < 0.00001, fixed effect).
Conclusion: This meta-analysis demonstrated that DKK1 may be a useful prognostic marker for GC.