RASSF1A gene methylation is associated with nasopharyngeal carcinoma risk in Chinese.

ABSTRACT

In order to explore the association between RASSF1A methylation and nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC) risk of Chinese, we carried out a meta-analysis with searches of PubMed, Web of Science, ProQest and Medline databases. Ultimately, 14 articles were identified and analysised using R Software (R version 3.1.2) including meta packages. Overall, we found a significant relationship between RASSF1A methylation and NPC risk (OR 30.7; 95 % CI, 16.71~56.23; z=11.0591; p<0.0001) in a fixed effects model and (OR 32.1; 95% CI, 14.27~72.01; z=8.3984; p<0.0001) in a random effects model pooled. In tissue and NP brushings groups , similar results were found. Hence, our study identified a strong association between RASSF1A methylation and NPC and highlighted a promising potential for RASSF1A methylation in NPC risk prediction of Chinese.