Abstract
Background and objectives: The prognostic role of a disintegrin and metalloproteinase (ADAM) 17 has been widely assessed in gastric cancer. However, the results are inconsistent. We performed a meta-analysis to evaluate the prognostic significance of ADAM17 and its association with clinicopathological parameters. Methods: The databases of PubMed, Web of Science, and Embase were searched for relevant articles published up to April 2020. The reported hazard ratios (HRs) and odds ratios (ORs) and their corresponding 95% confidence intervals (CIs) were pooled to evaluate the strength of the association. Stata 12.1 was used to perform statistical analyses. Results: Seven studies, including 1757 patients, were screened for the meta-analysis. Compared with the high ADAM17 expression group, the pooled HR was higher in the low ADAM17 expression group (HR = 2.04, 95% CI 1.66-2.50; I(2) = 18.1%; p = 0.299). High ADAM17 expression was also related to the tumor node metastasis (TNM) stages (OR = 4.09, 95% CI 1.85-9.04; I(2) = 84.1%; p = 0.000), lymph node metastasis (OR = 3.08, 95% CI 1.13-8.36; I(2) = 79.7%; p = 0.007), and ages (OR = 1.65, 95% CI 1.24-2.21; I(2) = 0%; p = 0.692) of the gastric patients. Conclusions: This meta-analysis revealed that ADAM17 is a significant biomarker for poor prognosis in gastric cancer.