Relationship between epithelial cell adhesion molecule (EpCAM) overexpression and gastric cancer patients: A systematic review and meta-analysis.

Objectives: The epithelial cell adhesion molecule (EpCAM) is one of the most commonly used markers of cancer stem cells (CSCs), but the clinical and prognostic significance of EpCAM in gastric cancer (GC) remains disputable. Motivated by heterogeneous and inconclusive results, we conducted a systematic review and meta-analysis to systematically summarize and elucidate the association between EpCAM overexpression and GC patients.

Methods: The PubMed, Cochrane Library, Medline, Web of Knowledge and the China National Knowledge Infrastructure (CNKI) databases were searched to identify relevant studies.