Activated leukocyte cell adhesion molecule (ALCAM) has been linked to the development and progress of colorectal cancer (CRC). In this meta-analysis, we examined whether ALCAM expression is predictive of survival outcomes in CRC patients. We included 7 studies with 2048 patients in our meta-analysis after searching the PubMed, Cochrane Library, EMBASE, OVID and Web of Science databases. High ALCAM expression was associated with poor overall survival among CRC patients (HR = 1.94, 95%CI = 1.05-3.58, P = 0.03). High ALCAM expression was also associated with aggressive clinicopathological features such as tumor stage (T3,T4/T1,T2; HR = 2.66, 95%CI = 2.01-3.51, P < 0.00001), nodal status (Positive/Negative, HR = 2.12, 95%CI = 1.61-2.82, P < 0.00001), distant metastasis (M1/M0, HR = 3.30, 95%CI = 2,21-4.91, P < 0.00001), tumor grade (grade3/grade1,2, HR = 1,28, 95% CI = 1.00-1.62, P = 0.05), and patient age (> 60/< 60, HR = 1.29, 95%CI = 1.01-1.66, P = 0.05). These findings indicate that high ALCAM expression is associated with poor prognosis and advanced clinicopathological characteristics in CRC patients.
Keywords: ALCAM; CRC; clinical features; outcome.