Long noncoding RNA MALAT1 can serve as a valuable biomarker for prognosis and lymph node metastasis in various cancers: a meta-analysis

Ping Shuai,Shikai Zhu,Zhilin Jiang,Hongji Yang,Bo Gong,Dingding Zhang,Yu Zhou,Chong Yang

doi:10.1186/s40064-016-3342-7

Abstract

BackgroundMetastasis-associated lung adenocarcinoma transcript 1 (MALAT1), a newly discovered long intergenic noncoding RNA (lincRNA), has been reported to be aberrantly expressed in various cancers, and may serve as a novel potential biomarker for cancer prognosis. This meta-analysis was conducted to investigate the effects of MALAT1 on cancer prognosis and lymph node metastasis.MethodsA quantitative meta-analysis was performed using a systematic search of PubMed, Medline and Web of Science databases to identify eligible papers on prognostic value of MALAT1 in cancers. The pooled hazard ratios (HRs) or odds ratios (OR) with a 95 % confidence interval (95 % Cl) were calculated to evaluate its prognostic value.ResultsA total of 2094 patients from 17 studies between 2003 and 2016 were included. The results revealed that elevated MALAT1 expression was significantly associated with poor overall survival (OS) in 11 types of cancers (HR = 1.91, 95 % CI 1.49–2.34). Furthermore, subgroup analysis indicated that region of study (Germany, Japan or China), cancer type (digestive system cancers, urinary system cancers or respiratory system cancers) and sample size (more or less than 100) did not alter the significant predictive value of MALAT1 in OS from various types of cancer. In addition, upregulation of MALAT1 expression was significantly associated with poor disease-free survival (HR = 2.29, 95 % CI 1.24–3.35), and recurrence-free survival (HR = 2.09, 95 % CI 0.81–3.37). The results showed that the incidence of lymph node metastasis was higher in high MALAT1 expression group than that in low MALAT1 expression group (OR = 1.67, 95 % CI 1.30–2.15).ConclusionsThis meta-analysis revealed that elevated MALAT1 expression may serve as a novel predictive biomarker for poor survival and lymph node metastasis in different types of cancer.

Highlights

Metastasis-associated lung adenocarcinoma transcript 1 (MALAT1), a newly discovered long intergenic noncoding RNA, has been reported to be aberrantly expressed in various cancers, and may serve as a novel potential biomarker for cancer prognosis
Literature collection The selected literatures were determined via an electronic search of PubMed, EMBASE, Web of Science, Ovid and Cochrane library databases using these following terms: “MALAT1”, “NEAT2”, “long intergenic noncoding RNA”, “lincRNA”, “long noncoding RNAs (lncRNAs)”, “noncoding RNA”, “cancer”, ‘‘carcinoma”, “neoplasm”, “outcome”, “prognosis”, “prognostic”, “mortality”, “survival”, “metastasis”, “recurrence” and “lymph node metastasis”
Inclusion and exclusion criteria The studies were considered eligible if they met the following criteria: any type of human cancer was studied; studies investigating the prognostic role of MALAT1 in various cancers; the levels of MALAT1 expression in cancerous tissues were detected; patients were grouped according to the levels of MALAT1 expression; a link between MALAT1 expression and clinicopathologic parameters was included; studies providing sufficient data to estimate the hazard ratios (HRs) with corresponding 95 % CI for overall survival (OS), disease specific survival (DSS), disease-free survival (DFS) or disease-free survival (RFS); and studies published in English

Summary

Introduction

Metastasis-associated lung adenocarcinoma transcript 1 (MALAT1), a newly discovered long intergenic noncoding RNA (lincRNA), has been reported to be aberrantly expressed in various cancers, and may serve as a novel potential biomarker for cancer prognosis. This meta-analysis was conducted to investigate the effects of MALAT1 on cancer prognosis and lymph node metastasis. Long noncoding RNAs (lncRNAs) have caught increasing attention, and might act as potential valuable biomarkers for cancer diagnosis or potential targets for cancer therapy (Esteller 2011; Gibb et al 2011). Recent studies found that dysregulation of lncRNAs is always associated with cancer development and progression (Zhang et al 2014; Wang et al 2014). The role of most lncRNAs in cancer progression and prognosis still remains unclear

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