Insulin-like growth factor receptor 1 (IGF1R) expression and survival in non-small cell lung cancer patients: a meta-analysis

The insulin-like growth factor receptor-1 (IGF1R) plays an important role in cancer progression. Previous studies have been controversial with respect to the associations between IGF1R expression and non small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) prognosis. Thus, we performed a meta-analysis to investigate the prognostic value of IGF1R expression in NSCLC patients and the relationship between the expression of IGF1R and clinical characteristics. Two independent reviewers searched PubMed, Embase, Ovid Medline and CNKI to identify eligible studies. Overall survival (OS), disease free survival (DFS) and clinicopathological characteristics were collected from included studies. Pooled hazard ratios (HRs) or odds ratios (ORs) with 95% confidence interval (95% CI) were calculated to estimate the effect. 17 studies comprising 3,294 patients were included in this meta-analysis. The results showed IGF1R positive expression was associated with an unfavorable DFS in NSCLC patients on univariate analysis (HR = 1.26, 95% CI: 1.09-1.46, P = 0.002) and multivariate analysis (HR = 1.49, 95% CI: 1.01-2.20, p = 0.045), but the relationship between IGF1R expression and OS have no significant difference on univariate analysis (HR = 0.91, 95% CI: 0.82-1.01, P = 0.157) and multivariate analysis (HR = 0.79, 95% CI: 0.45-1.41, P = 0.427). Ever smoking and smaller tumor size (T1 or T2) were associated with IGF1R positive expression: pooled OR 1.45 (1.13-1.85) and pooled OR 0.61 (0.60-0.95). Our results suggested IGF1R positive expression as an unfavorable factor for DFS in NSCLC patients, and IGF1R expression was associated with smoking status and tumor size.     

Prognostic value of long non-coding RNA FOXD2-AS1 expression in patients with solid tumors

BackgroundAlthough increasing evidence has revealed that FOXD2-AS1 overexpression exists in various solid tumors, the value of FOXD2-AS1 as a prognostic marker in such cancers remains uncertain. Accordingly, the present research aimed to assess the association of FOXD2-AS1 with cancer prognosis and predict the biological function of FOXD2-AS1.MethodsWe systematically retrieved PubMed, PMC, Web of Science, EMBASE and Wiley Online Library databases for eligible articles published up to December 2018. Pooled hazard ratios (HRs) and odds ratios (ORs) with 95% confidence intervals (95%CIs) were calculated to evaluate the correlation of FOXD2-AS1 expression with overall survival (OS), disease free survival (DFS) and clinicopathological characteristics. We also used five Gene Expression Omnibus (GEO) datasets from breast cancer patients to explore the relationship between FOXD2-AS1 expression and prognosis. Finally, we validated FOXD2-AS1 expression in various carcinomas and predicted its biological function based on the public databases.ResultsA total of 13 studies with 2502 tumor patients were included. The pooled HRs demonstrated that FOXD2-AS1 overexpression was significantly associated with unfavorable OS (HR = 1.39, 95%CI: 1.23–1.57, p < 0.001) and DFS (HR = 2.24, 95%CI: 1.55–3.23, p < 0.001) in tumor patients. The pooled ORs indicated that FOXD2-AS1 upregulation was related to large tumor size (OR = 1.53, 95%CI: 1.26–1.85, p < 0.001), deep invasion depth (OR = 1.99, 95%CI: 1.53–2.58, p < 0.001), distant metastasis (OR = 2.03, 95%CI: 1.69–2.43, p < 0.001) and advanced TNM stage (OR = 1.35, 95%CI: 1.06–1.72, p = 0.0150), but not to lymph node metastasis nor differentiation. Moreover, a similar pooled result for the OS of breast cancer patients was obtained (HR = 1.55, 95%CI: 1.14–2.11, p = 0.0052) by analyzing GEO data. Finally, elevated FOXD2-AS1 expression in various solid tumor tissues was verified based on The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) data. Further functional prediction demonstrated that FOXD2-AS1 may participate in some cancer-related pathways.ConclusionElevated FOXD2-AS1 expression was associated with poor survival in patients with solid tumors and may serve as a potential prognostic biomarker for a variety of cancers.     

Decreased expression of lncRNA loc285194 as an independent prognostic marker in cancer: A systematic review and meta-analysis

BackgroundSeveral studies have indicated that lncRNA loc285194 is aberrantly expressed in many types of cancer. This meta-analysis was performed to elucidate the potential role of lncRNA loc285194 as a prognostic marker in malignant tumors.MethodsAn electronic search of PubMed, Medline, Embase, and Web of Science was performed to identify all eligible papers related to the prognostic impact of lncRNA loc285194 expression in cancer. Hazard ratios (HR) and 95% confidence intervals (CI) were extracted from the included studies to explore the association between lncRNA loc285194 expression and patient overall and disease-free survival (OS & DFS). The odds ratios (ORs) were also calculated to assess the association between lncRNA loc285194 expression and clinicopathological parameters.ResultsA total of 14 eligible articles with 1215 patients were included in this meta-analysis. Meta-results revealed that low expression of lncRNA loc285194 was significantly correlated with poorer overall survival (OS; HR = 2.34; 95% CI, 1.78–3.06; P < 0.001) and disease-free survival (DFS; HR = 2.66; 95% CI, 1.95–3.64; P = 0.001) rates in cancer patients. Low lncRNA loc285194 expression was also found to be significantly associated with lymph node metastasis (LNM; OR = 2.17; 95% CI, 1.23–3.83; P = 0.007), and distant metastasis (DM; OR = 2.49; 95% CI, 1.26–4.91; P = 0.009).ConclusionsThis study demonstrated that decreased level of lncRNA loc285194 was associated with poor clinical outcomes for patients with different types of cancer, supporting a promising potential biomarker for prognosis and metastasis in human cancers.     

Clinicopathological and prognostic significance of TINCR in caner: A meta-analysis

BackgroundIn a variety of cancers, the expression of TINCR is linked to the development, progression, metastasis, invasion, and prognosis of cancer. Our study is the first study used meta-analysis to explore the relationship between TINCR expression and cancer.MethodsBy looking up PubMed, Web of Science, CNKI database, we obtained 10 articles for analysis. The statistical analysis was all calculated by Stata 15.1 software.ResultsWe found that the expression of TINCR was a risk factor to the size of the tumor (OR = 1.772, 95%CI: 1.246–2.520, P = 0.001). In univariate analysis, patients with high expression of TINCR had poor OS (pooled HR = 1.533, 95%CI: 1.025–2.294, P = 0.038). Similar result was also found in multivariate analysis In subgroup analysis (pooled HR = 1.610, 95%CI: 1.356–1.913, P = 0.000).We also found that over-expression of TINCR had poor OS in breast cancer (pooled HR = 1.582, 95%CI: 1.126–2.223, P = 0.008).ConclusionIn this study, we found that over-expression of TINCR may influence the tumor size and contribute to the poor prognosis of cancer.     

Prognostic and clinicopathological significance of SR-B1 in solid tumors: A meta-analysis

BackgroundThe expression of cell surface receptors is abnormal in malignant tumors. The scavenger receptor class B type I (SR-B1) is an integral membrane glycoprotein receptor that facilitates the selective uptake of cholesterol by malignant cells. Accumulated studies investigated the prognostic role of SR-B1 in many solid tumors, such as breast cancer, lung cancer and so on. However, the conclusions remain undefined. Therefore, we conducted this meta-analysis to obtain more accurate evaluation of prognostic significance of SR-B1 in solid tumors.Materials and methodsWe searched PubMed, Embase, Web of science and Cochrane library for eligible studies published before November 2018. The included studies investigated the association between the SR-B1 level and clinicopathological features including survival outcomes in solid tumors. Hazard ratios (HRs) with 95% confidence intervals (CIs) were adopted to assess the survival outcomes and odds ratio (ORs) with 95% confidence intervals (CIs) were pooled to evaluated the clinicopathological features.ResultsA total of 10 studies involving 2585 patients were included in this meta-analysis. The results showed that low SR-B1 level was significantly correlated with earlier tumor grade (pooled OR = 2.09, 95%CI = 1.28–3.43, P = 0.001), less nodal involvement (pooled OR = 2.07, 95%CI = 1.43–3.0, P < 0.001), less distant metastasis (OR = 19.8, 95%CI = 2.58–151.65, P = 0.004), smaller tumor size (OR = 2.34, 95%CI = 1.53–3.57, P < 0.001), earlier TNM stage (OR = 3.77, 95%CI = 1.67–8.48, P = 0.001), lower recurrence (HR = 1.98, 95%CI = 1.57–2.49, P = 0.000), and better OS (HR = 1.99, 95%CI = 1.70–2.31, P = 0.000).ConclusionThe low expression of SR-B1 was significantly associated with better clinicopathological status and longer survival in patients with solid tumors. SR-B1 might act as a promising prognostic biomarker for solid tumors.     

The association of SOX2 with clinical features and prognosis in colorectal cancer: A meta-analysis

ObjectivesThe expression of SOX2 protein has been reported to be correlated with colorectal cancers. In this study, we conducted a meta-analysis to evaluate the association of SOX2 with clinical features and prognosis in colorectal cancer.MethodsThe relevant studies up to March 2019 were searched in Two English databases(PubMed and EMBASE)and two Chinese databases (CNKI and Wanfang database). Pooled ORs or HRs were used to assess the strength of the association between SOX2 and clinical parameters.Results14 studies involving 2077 colorectal cancer patients were included in the meta-analysis. Our results revealed there were no associations between SOX2 and gender and age. However, significant positive associations were observed for N categories (OR = 3.02, 95 %CI = 2.11–4.31), advanced stage (OR = 2.85, 95 %CI = 2.00–4.07), poor differentiation (OR = 1.90, 95 %CI = 1.38–2.64), distant metastasis (OR = 4.66, 95 %CI = 2.77–7.85) and poor OS (HR = 1.49, 95 %CI = 1.09–2.03).ConclusionThe results indicated that SOX2 protein may serve as a novel prognostic factor for patients with colorectal cancer.     

Role of HPV status and PD-L1 expression in prognosis of laryngeal squamous cell carcinoma

Purpose: Human papillomavirus (HPV) infection has been recognized as a cause of head and neck squamous cell carcinomas (HNSCC). Laryngeal squamous cell carcinoma (LSCC) is one of the most common pathologic types of HNSCC. Clinical trials show that there are differences in response to immunotherapy according to HPV status. It was reported that a high level of programmed cell death-ligand 1 (PD-L1) is correlated with better survival in HPV-positive head and neck cancer. In this study, we investigated the expression of PD-L1 in HPV-positive and HPV-negative LSCC to determine its prevalence and prognostic value. Methods: 52 cases of LSCC were collected from Tangshan Head and Neck Disease Pathology Research Base. PCR-reverse dot blot hybridization and RNAscope in situ hybridization were used to detect HPV status. PD-L1 expression was evaluated by immunohistochemistry and all cases were followed up for survival. SPSS24.0 was used for data entry and statistical analysis. Kaplan-Meier method and Log-rank time series analysis were used for single factor analysis. Multivariate analysis was performed using Cox proportional hazard regression model, and HR and 95% CI were calculated. Results: Of the 52 LSCC patients, 32.7% (17/52) were HPV-positive by RNAscope in situ hybridization, and 51.9% (27/52) of patients were positive for PD-L1 expression by immunohistochemistry. Regression analysis showed that with a median follow-up period of 69 months, smoking and late stage were associated with poor overall survival (OS), whereas HPV positivity and PD-L1 expression showed a better overall survival outcome. Conclusion: Smoking status, tumor stage, HPV status, and PD-L1 expression in tumor cells may represent useful prognostic biomarkers in patients with LSCC.     

MMP-1/PAR-1 signal transduction axis and its prognostic impact in esophageal squamous cell carcinoma

The matrix metalloprotease-1 (MMP-1)/protease-activated receptor-1 (PAR-1) signal transduction axis plays an important role in tumorigenesis. To explore the expression and prognostic value of MMP-1 and PAR-1 in esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC), we evaluated the expression of two proteins in resected specimens from 85 patients with ESCC by immunohistochemistry. Sixty-two (72.9%) and 58 (68.2%) tumors were MMP-1- and PAR-1-positive, respectively, while no significant staining was observed in normal esophageal squamous epithelium. MMP-1 and PAR-1 overexpression was significantly associated with tumor node metastasis (TNM) stage and regional lymph node involvement. Patients with MMP-1- and PAR-1-positive tumors, respectively, had poorer disease-free survival (DFS) than those with negative ESCC (P = 0.002 and 0.003, respectively). Univariate analysis showed a significant relationship between TNM stage [hazard ratio (HR) = 2.836, 95% confidence interval (CI) = 1.866-4.308], regional lymph node involvement (HR = 2.955, 95%CI = 1.713-5.068), MMP-1 expression (HR = 2.669, 95%CI = 1.229-6.127), and PAR-1 expression (HR = 1.762, 95%CI = 1.156-2.883) and DFS. Multivariate analysis including the above four parameters identified TNM stage (HR = 2.035, 95%CI = 1.167-3.681), MMP-1 expression (HR = 2.109, 95%CI = 1.293-3.279), and PAR-1 expression (HR = 1.967, 95%CI = 1.256-2.881) as independent and significant prognostic factors for DFS. Our data suggest for the first time that MMP-1 and PAR-1 were both overexpressed in ESCC and are novel predictors of poor patient prognosis after curative resection. The MMP-1/PAR-1 signal transduction axis might be a new therapeutic target for future therapies tailored against ESCC.     

Expression level of PD-L1 is involved in ALDH1A1-mediated poor prognosis in patients with head and neck squamous cell carcinoma

ObjectiveTo evaluate the expression levels of ALDH1A1, PDL1, and PDL2 in head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC) patients, and explore their clinical relevance in prognosis of patients with HNSCC.MethodsImmunohistochemistry of ALDH1A1 and PD-L1/PD-L2 in 85 primary HNSCC patients was carried out. The expression level of PD-L2 was assessed with the modified Moratin’s immune response scoring (IRS) system. tumor proportion score (TPS) was defined as the percentage of viable tumor cells showing partial or complete membrane staining at any intensity. The chi-square test and Fisher’s exact test were used to analyze the associations between ALDH1A1 expression and clinicopathological features. The Spearman’s correlation was applied to analyze the correlation of ALDH1A1 expression with PD-L1/PD-L2 expression.Resultskaplan-Meier analysis showed that the expression levels of ALDH1A1 and PD-L1/PD-L2 were inversely associated with recurrence-free survival (RFS; P = 0.001, 0.014, and 0.023, respectively). Moreover, expression levels of ALDH1A1 and PD-L1 were correlated with poor overall survival (OS; P = 0.002 and 0.039, respectively). Furthermore, multivariate logistics regression analyses demonstrated that expression level of ALDH1A1 was independently associated with shorter RFS (P = 0.013) and poorer OS (P = 0.014) in HNSCC patients, and the expression level of PD-L2 was only negatively associated with RFS (P = 0.041), rather than PD-L1. Spearman’s correlation analysis unveiled that expression levels of PD-L1 and PD-L2 were positively correlated with ALDH1A1 expression in HNSCC patients (P = 0.000 and 0.015, respectively). Especially, the patients with expression levels of ALDH1A1 and PD-L1 had the worst prognosis.ConclusionsOur results indicated that ALDH1A1 is an independent prognostic factor in patients with HNSCC, and the expression level of PDL-1 may be involved in ALDH1A1-mediated poor prognosis in patients with HNSCC.     

Prognostic and predictive role of DNA mismatch repair status in stage II-III colorectal cancer: A systematic review and meta-analysis

DNA mismatch repair (MMR) status was considered to be a potential prognostic factor for colorectal cancer (CRC) but with conflicting reports, and varied in terms of TNM stages. Its relationship with prognosis in stage II-III CRC had not yet been systematically established. Therefore, we retrieved eligible studies published through May 2019, and screened out 51 studies that reported survival data (overall survival [OS] and/or disease-free survival [DFS]) in 28 331 CRC patients at stage II-III, totally 16.4% of whom were characterized as deficient MMR (dMMR). Significant associations of dMMR status were observed with longer OS (Hazard Ratio [HR] = 0.74, 95% CI: 0.68-0.82; P < .001), as well as DFS (HR = 0.67, 95% CI: 0.59-0.75, P < .001). However, dMMR patients received no statistically significant benefit from fluoropyrimidine-based treatment for either OS (HR = 0.84, 95%CI: 0.60-1.17; P = .31) or DFS (HR = 0.83, 95%CI: 0.60-1.15; P = .27), compared with that in proficient MMR (pMMR) patients for both OS (HR = 0.55, 95% CI: 0.43-0.71; P < .001) and DFS (HR = 0.60, 95% CI: 0.50-0.73; P < .001). Our analysis indicate that dMMR CRC patients at stage II-III had higher OS and DFS than pMMR ones, and fluoropyrimidine-based chemotherapy could improve survival in pMMR patients rather than dMMR ones.     

Galectin-3 may serve as a marker for poor prognosis in colorectal cancer: A meta-analysis

Galectin-3 has an important function in the development of tumors. The purpose of this meta-analysis was to explore the relationships between the expression of galectin-3 on clinicopathological features and prognosis of colorectal cancer (CRC). A comprehensive literature search was used to identify eligible studies, and Stata software was conducted using in this meta-analysis. A total of 15 studies, including 1661 cases, were matched in the inclusion criteria. The pooled analysis indicated that galectin-3 expression was related to the poor overall survival (OS) in CRC patients (HR: 1.77, 95% CI: 1.36–2.31, P < 0.0001). Our meta-analysis also showed that cancerous tissues have higher levels of galectin-3 expression than normal tissues. Besides, positive galectin-3 expression was also related to advanced TNM stages(III/IV vs. I/II: OR 5.30, 95% CI: 2.42–11.61, P < 0.0001), higher Duke’s stages (C/D vs. A/B: OR 4.00, 95% CI: 2.22–7.22, P < 0.0001), venous invasion (venous invasion vs. not: OR 3.02, 95%CI: 1.75–5.22, P < 0.0001) and higher CEA level (CEA≥5 ng/ml vs. ≤ 5 ng/ml: OR 2.09, 95% CI: 1.09–4.03, P = 0.03). In summary, our results indicated that overexpression of galectin-3 is significantly related to the tumor progression and could be a efficient in predicting the prognosis of patients with CRC.     

Monocyte chemotactic protein-1 expression as a prognosic biomarker in patients with solid tumor: a meta analysis

Purpose: A great deal of studies have been performed on the prognostic value of monocyte chemotactic protein-1 (MCP-1) in solid tumors in recent years. However, no consistent outcomes are reported. Therefore, the prognostic value of MCP-1 still remains controversial in patients with solid tumors. Here we aimed to evaluate the prognostic value of MCP-1 expression for patients with solid tumors. Methods: Comprehensive literature was selected from PUBMED and EMBASE and clinical studies which reported analysis of survival data about MCP-1 in solid tumors were included. Stata 11.0 was used for performing a meta-analysis on evaluating the relation between MCP-1 and clinical staging, overall survival (OS) and disease free survival (DFS). Results: Eleven studies with a total of 1324 patients with solid tumors were included into our meta-analysis. The result showed that high concentration of MCP-1 was related to a worse OS (HR = 1.95, 95% CI 1.32-2.88). The subgroup analysis on different location of tumors showed that high concentration of MCP-1 meant bad prognosis in patients with digestive cancer (HR = 2.66, 95% CI 1.44-4.91) and urogenital cancer (HR = 2.23, 95% CI 1.61-3.10), even head and neck cancer (HR = 1.99, 95% CI 0.95-4.18) other than respiratory cancer (HR = 1.10, 95% CI 0.39-3.11). Another subgroup analysed on different sites of cancer and indicated a poor prognosis on adenocarcinoma (HR = 2.10, 95% CI 1.63-2.69). Conclusions: Our findings suggest that MCP-1 can be regarded as a poor prognostic maker for solid tumors and may represent important new therapeutic targets.     

Prognostic value of circulating tumor DNA in lymphoma: a meta-analysis

Circulating tumor DNA (ctDNA) can be used to evaluate the prognosis of lymphoma. However, there is no uniform consensus about the mechanistic role that ctDNA plays in the prognosis of lymphoma. This meta-analysis explores the prognostic value of ctDNA in lymphoma, especially in diffuse large B cell lymphoma (DLBCL). All relevant reports published as of May 14, 2020, were retrieved by searching electronic databases in Pubmed, Embase and Cochrane Library. The prognostic value of ctDNA was evaluated using meta-analysis. Revman 5.3 software was used for prognostic data extraction and analysis. Eight studies, including a total of 767 lymphoma patients, were enrolled in this meta-analysis. Five out of eight studies investigated the association between ctDNA levels and progression-free survival (PFS) in 501 lymphoma patients, indicating that high levels of ctDNA were significantly associated with poor PFS (HR 2.24, 95%CI: 1.63–3.08, P?<?0.00001). We conducted a subgroup analysis of 379 patients with DLBCL across three of the studies and came to the same conclusion (HR 2.01, 95%CI: 1.42–2.85, P?<?0.0001). Two studies with a total of 192 lymphoma patients described the association between ctDNA levels and event-free survival (EFS), showing that high levels of ctDNA were also associated with adverse EFS (HR 4.53, 95%CI: 1.79–11.47, P?=?0.001). The remaining two studies analyzed the potential clinical value of ctDNA for predicting the overall survival time (OS) of DLBCL patients, demonstrating that high levels of ctDNA correlated with inferior OS (HR 3.09, 95%CI: 1.50–6.35, P?=?0.002). Our meta-analysis showed that high levels of ctDNA were associated with poor prognosis in patients with lymphoma, especially DLBCL.

     

Prognostic value of CD117 in cancer: a meta-analysis

Background: The prognostic value of CD117 expression in cancers has been evaluated for several years while the results remain controversial. We thus performed a systematic review and meta-analysis of studies assessing the impact of CD117 expression on overall survival (OS) and disease-free survival (DFS) to clarify this issue. Methods: We searched Pubmed, Embase and Web of Science to identify studies on the prognostic impact of CD117 expression in cancers. A total of 4,458 patients from 39 eligible studies were included in the analysis. Pooled risk ratios (RRs) with 95% confidence interval (95% CI) were calculated to estimate the effect using random-effects model. Results: The analysis indicated that CD117 had significant association with poor OS of osteosarcoma (OR=1.36, 95% CI=1.03-1.79, I2=0%, fixed model) and renal carcinoma (OR=4.86, 95% CI=2.72-8.67, I2=0%, fixed model).However, no significant association between CD117 and DFS was found in overall studies. Conclusions: CD117 expression might be a predictive factor of poor prognosis in some surgically treated cancers, particularly in renal carcinoma.     

The pretreatment lymphocyte to monocyte ratio predicts clinical outcome for patients with urological cancers: A meta-analysis

Background

The lymphocyte to monocyte ratio (LMR), a novel systematic biomarker of inflammation, has been reported to be associated with the progression and prognosis of many malignant cancers. However, the relationship between LMR and survival outcome of urological cancers (UCs) remains controversial. Herein, we conducted a meta-analysis to identify the prognostic value of pretreatment LMR in patients with UCs.

Survivin expression is an independent poor prognostic marker in lung adenocarcinoma but not in squamous cell carcinoma

Survivin is a member of the inhibitors of apoptosis and frequently overexpressed in various cancer cells. Overexpression of survivin in lung cancer cells attenuates antitumor effect of tyrosine kinase inhibitors. However, data from the previous studies on the clinicopathologic implication of survivin in non-small-cell lung carcinoma (NSCLC) are inconsistent. We investigated the expression of survivin in 373 cases of surgically resected NSCLC. Correlations between the expression of survivin and clinicopathologic, molecular features and prognostic significance were analyzed. In adenocarcinoma, the increased expression of survivin was associated with the presence of vascular invasion, lymph node metastasis, and tumor recurrences, but we didn’t find any correlation with survivin expression and clinicopathological parameters in squamous cell carcinoma. Patients with high survivin expression had significantly shorter disease-free survival (DFS; 42.2 vs. 58.8 months; p?=?0.001) and shorter overall survival (OS; 60.8 vs. 71.5 months; p?=?0.009) than those with low survivin expression group in adenocarcinoma. In squamous cell carcinoma, the expression of survivin was not associated with prognosis of the patients (DFS; 48.9 vs. 48.7 months; p?=?0.837, OS; 61.0 vs. 62.4 months; p?=?0.771). Multivariate analysis confirmed that survivin was an independent poor prognostic factor in adenocarcinoma (DFS: hazard ratio (HR), 1.687; 95 % confidence interval (CI), 1.123–2.532; p?=?0.012; OS: HR, 1.965; 95 % CI, 1.108–3.486; p?=?0.021). There was no statistically significant difference in the expression of survivin among different molecular subgroups (p?>?0.05). Our results suggest that survivin is an independent negative prognostic factor in adenocarcinoma, but not in squamous cell carcinoma. The different prognostic roles played by survivin in adenocarcinoma and squamous cell carcinoma highlights the biological differences between these two histologic types.     

PD-L1 expression in vulvar cancer: a systematic review and meta-analysis

Programmed cell death ligand-1 (PD-L1) expression in cancer may predict clinical response to immunotherapeutic treatment with PD-1/PD-L1 inhibitors. Within the vulvar cancer field, PD-L1 expression has only been assessed by a few studies. We conducted a meta-analysis to examine the prevalence of PD-L1 positivity in vulvar cancer. PubMed, Embase, and Cochrane were searched for articles reporting on PD-L1 expression in vulvar cancer. Study selection and data extraction were performed independently by two authors. We extracted data on PD-L1 prevalence in vulvar cancer according to combined positive score (CPS) and tumour proportion score (TPS). Cutoff values for positivity were ≥1 or ≥10 for CPS and ≥1% and ≥5% for TPS. Random-effects models were used to estimate pooled PD-L1 prevalence, with 95% confidence intervals (CIs). Tests of between-study heterogeneity were evaluated by the I² statistics. Sources of heterogeneity were explored by subgroup analyses and meta-regression. In total, 19 studies were included. Pooled PD-L1 prevalence in vulvar cancer was 83.4% (95% CI: 70.8–91.3; I² = 80.0) and 53.9% (95% CI: 37.4–69.6; I² = 93.0) according to CPS and TPS, respectively. Based on TPS, human papillomavirus (HPV)-associated vulvar squamous cell carcinomas (SCC) showed a lower PD-L1 prevalence (39.9%; 95% CI: 13.3–74.2) compared with HPV-independent SCC (62.6%; 95% CI: 33.7–84.6), but meta-regression showed no significant variation in PD-L1 prevalence by HPV status. PD-L1 prevalence was similar in advanced (44.9%; 95% CI: 29.8–61.1) and localized vulvar cancer (56.7%; 95% CI: 18.9–76.7). In conclusion, PD-L1 expression in vulvar cancer is frequent but between-study heterogeneity was high. Based on a subgroup of heterogenous studies, we found no strong variation in PD-L1 prevalence according to HPV status and stage.     

Clinical usefulness of gastric adenocarcinoma predictive long intergenic noncoding RNA in human malignancies: A meta-analysis

BackgroundGastric adenocarcinoma predictive long intergenic noncoding RNA (GAPLINC), a newly identified lincRNA, was reported to be aberrantly expressed in several kinds of cancers and played an important role in tumor progression. This study was performed to systematically estimate the prognostic role of GAPLINC expression in cancer patients.MethodsSeveral electronic databases, including PubMed, Embase, Web of Science, China National Knowledge Infrastructure (CNKI), and Wan Fang databases were searched for potential literature (updated to September 3, 2018). The pooled hazard ratios (HRs), odds ratios (ORs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) were calculated with a fixed effects model using Stata12.0 software.ResultsThe pooled results indicated that elevated GAPLINC was significantly related to shorter overall survival (OS) (HR = 1.66, 95%CI: 1.40–1.93, p < 0.001), which was further validated using The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) dataset. Furthermore, high GAPLINC expression was correlated with higher tumor grade (OR = 1.91, 95%CI: 1.35–2.70, p < 0.001), positive lymph node metastasis (OR = 2.80, 95%CI: 1.69–4.64, p < 0.001), deeper infiltration depth (OR = 2.44, 95%CI: 1.43–4.17, p = 0.001) and advanced clinical stage (OR = 3.54, 95%CI: 2.13–5.88, p < 0.001).ConclusionsOur results suggest that elevated GAPLINC was associated with poor clinical outcomes and might serve as a promising prognostic biomarker in cancer survivors.     

Golgi phosphoprotein3 overexpression is associated with poor survival in patients with solid tumors: a meta-analysis

Golgi phosphoprotein3 (GOLPH3) is known as an oncoprotein and may be a prognostic biomarker in various tumors. Here we performed a meta-analysis on the association of GOLPH3 expression and survival in solid tumors. All eligible studies were identified in Embase, PubMed and Web of Science Databases up to November 2014. Data about overall survival (OS), and disease-free survival (DFS) were extracted and pooled hazard ratios (HRs) of GOLPH3 for survival were calculated by using a random-effect model. Heterogeneity and publication bias were also assessed. A total of 15 eligible studies which comprised of 2529 cases were included in this global analysis: 14 were dealing with overall survival (OS) and 6 were with disease-free survival (DFS). We found that GOLPH3 overexpression was associated with shorter OS (HR 2.487, 95% CI 1.897-3.258, P < 0.001) and DFS (HR 1.911, 95% CI 1.245-2.932, P = 0.003) in general carcinomas. Importantly, subgroup analysis suggested that overexpression of GOLPH3 correlated with shorter OS in urogenital system cancers (HR 4.258, 95% CI 1.81-4.91, P < 0.001). Moreover, publication bias was not significant (P > 0.05). In conclusion, the present meta-analysis showed that overexpression of GOLPH3 predicts poor prognosis in solid tumors.     

Clinical value of survivin and its underlying mechanism in ovarian cancer: A bioinformatics study based on GEO and TCGA data mining

Objective

An increasing number of studies have confirmed that survivin (BIRC5) plays essential roles in ovarian cancer. Nevertheless, inconsistent or controversial results exist in some studies. In the present study, we sought to determine the clinical significance of survivin and its potential molecular pathways.