The expression profile and clinicopathological significance of Notch1 in patients with colorectal cancer: a meta-analysis

AIM: This meta-analysis was conducted to evaluate the clinicopathological significance of Notch1 expression in patients with colorectal cancer (CRC). METHODS: Available articles were searched from diverse databases, and the meta-analysis was done by using Stata 12.0 software. RESULTS: Thirteen studies were included in this analysis (3401 samples). The Notch1 expression in CRC tissues was significantly higher than that in normal tissues statistically (OR: 15.46; 95% CI: 8.11-29.45; p = 0.003), and were associated with lymph node metastasis, tumor stage, depth of infiltration and histological differentiation. DISCUSSION:  There is a close relationship between higher Notch1 expression in CRC. Notch1 may be involved in tumor progression, invasion and metastasis with CRC. CONCLUSION: Notch1 overexpression in CRC suggested aggressive biological behaviors and thus implying that Notch1 may be a useful biomarker in CRCs.