Abstract
BackgroundNucleophosmin is a non-ribosomal nucleolar phosphoprotein that is found primarily in the nucleolus region of cell nucleus, plays multiple important roles in tumor processes. Accumulated previous studies have reported a potential value of NPM acted as a biomarker for prognosis in various solid tumors, but the results were more inconsistency. We performed this meta-analysis to precisely evaluate the prognostic significance of NPM in solid tumors.MethodsClinical data were collected from a comprehensive literature search in PubMed, Web of Science, Embase, and China National Knowledge Infrastructure databases (up to October, 2017). A total of 11 studied with 997 patients were used to assess the association of NPM expression and patients’ overall survival (OS). The hazard ratio (HR) or odds ratio (OR) with its 95% confidence intervals (CI) were calculated to estimate the effect.ResultsThe pooled results indicated that higher expression of NPM was observably correlated with poor OS in solid tumor (HR = 1.85, 95% CI: 1.44–2.38, P < 0.001). Furthermore, high expression of NPM was associated with some phenotypes of tumor aggressiveness, such as tumor stage (4 studies, III/IV vs. I/II, OR = 5.21, 95% CI: 2.72–9.56, P < 0.001), differentiation grade (poor vs. well/moderate, OR = 1.82, 95% CI: 1.01–3.27, P = 0.046).ConclusionThis meta-analysis indicated that NPM may act as a valuable prognosis biomarker and a potential therapeutic target in human solid tumors.
Highlights
Nucleophosmin is a non-ribosomal nucleolar phosphoprotein that is found primarily in the nucleolus region of cell nucleus, plays multiple important roles in tumor processes
We diligently screened the eligible studies with the following inclusion criteria: (1) studies assessing the association of NPM expression and prognostic outcomes in solid tumors; (2) NPM expression has been measured in tumor tissue by immunohistochemistry (IHC) stain; (3) dividing NPM expression into “high” and “low” or “positive” and “negative”; (4) offering hazard ratios (HRs) with 95% confidence intervals (CIs) or sufficient information for estimating these statistics; (5) studies were written as full papers
One study [15] did not state the percentage of high NPM expression, and the cutoff value for defining positive or high NPM expression could be extracted from 9 studies
Summary
Nucleophosmin is a non-ribosomal nucleolar phosphoprotein that is found primarily in the nucleolus region of cell nucleus, plays multiple important roles in tumor processes. Accumulated previous studies have reported a potential value of NPM acted as a biomarker for prognosis in various solid tumors, but the results were more inconsistency. We performed this meta-analysis to precisely evaluate the prognostic significance of NPM in solid tumors. Nucleophosmin (NPM), known as B23, numatrin or NO38, was originally identified as a nucleolar phosphoprotein [1]. It was abundantly expressed in the granular region of the nucleolus, which could shuttle between the nucleus and cytoplasm during the cell cycle [2]. Previous studies showed that NPM acted as a factor in ribosome biogenesis, which could regulate ribosome
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a call
