ObjectiveTo systematically review the correlation between E-cadherin expression and prostate cancer, as well as its clinicopathologic features in Chinese population. MethodsSuch databases as PubMed, EMbase, CBM, CNKI, VIP and WanFang Data were electronically searched from their inception to December, 2015 to collect case-control studies about the correlation between E-cadherin expression and prostate cancer, as well as its clinically pathologic features in Chinese population. Two reviewers independently screened literature, extracted data and assessed the risk of bias of included studies. Then, meta-analysis was performed using RevMan 5.3 software. ResultsA total of 21 studies were included, involving 920 prostate cancer cases, 415 benign prostatic hyperplasia cases, and 48 controls. The results of meta-analysis showed that the prostate cancer group had a lower E-cadherin expression level when compared with the benign prostatic hyperplasia group (OR=0.07, 95%CI 0.05 to 0.11, P<0.00001) or the control group (OR=0.04, 95%CI 0.01 to 0.18, P<0.00001). Moreover, the expression level of E-cadherin was lower in the low and medium differentiation group than in the high differentiation group (OR=0.13, 95%CI 0.08 to 0.23, P<0.00001), lower in the stage of C+D than in the stage of A+B (OR=0.23, 95%CI 0.15 to 0.34, P<0.00001), and lower in the prostate cancer with metastasis (OR=0.46, 95%CI 0.27 to 0.79, P=0.005) and it was decreased gradually with the increment of pathological differentiation and clinical stage of prostate cancer and with the decrement of lymph node or bone metastasis and serum PSA level. ConclusionCurrent evidence indicates that the expression level of E-cadherin is significantly correlated with prostate cancer and its clinicopathologic features in Chinese population. Due to limited sample size and quality of included studies, the conclusion needs to be verified by conducting more high quality studies.