The clinicopathological and prognostic value of CLDN18.2 expression in gastric cancer: A meta-analysis

Abstract Objective The tight junction protein Claudin-18.2 is a potential target for gastric cancer therapy. Given the divergent results of multiple published studies on the expression of CLDN18.2, this meta-analysis aimed to assess its clinicopathologic and prognostic significance in gastric cancer. Method We identified 14 eligible studies in the PubMed, Web of Science, Cochrane Library, Embase, CNKI, Wangfangdate, and CBM databases from their inception to August 2023 and performed meta-analyses using STATA version 15.0. Result 14 eligible studies including 2908 patients were subjected to analysis. High CLDN18.2 expression was associated with a poorer OS (HR = 1.171, 95% CI: 1.035–1.325, p = 0.012), as well as a poorer PFS (HR = 1.307, 95% CI: 1.041–1.642, p = 0.021). Furthermore, CLDN18.2 expression in gastric cancer was apparently correlated with EBV status (OR = 3.082, 95% CI: 1.024-9.20, p = 0.045), ECOG score (OR = 1.750, 95% CI: 1.029–2.977, p = 0.039), HER2 expression (OR = 0.650, 95% CI: 0.455–0.929, p = 0.018), grade level (OR = 0.504, 95% CI = 0.299–0.849, p = 0.01), presence of liver metastases (OR = 0.586, 95% CI: 0.363–0.945, p = 0.029), PD-L1 expression (OR = 1.684, 95% CI: 1.132–2.506, p = 0.01), and TNM stage (OR = 2.028, 95% CI: 1.056–3.896, p = 0.034). Conclusion Elevated expression of CLDN18.2 has been observed to be correlated with poor OS and PFS in cases of gastric cancer. This finding suggests that CLDN18.2 is a valuable prognostic marker in addition to being a therapeutic target in gastric cancer.