Prognostic value of miR-17-5 p in gastrointestinal cancers: a systematic review and meta-analysis.

Abstract

BackgroundThere are accumulating studies investigating the aberrant expression of microRNAs in tumor patients. As an important member of miR-17/92 cluster, miR-17-5 p has been identified as a potential prognostic factor for survival in tumor patients. We conducted this meta-analysis aimed to assess the effect of miR-17-5 p as a prognostic biomarker for gastrointestinal tumor patients.Materials and methodsEligible studies were enrolled by searching the online databases of PubMed, Embase, Web of Science, China National Knowledge Infrastructure, and WanFang Data until September 2017. We calculated pooled hazard ratios (HRs) and 95% CI of miR-17-5 p for overall survival and disease-free survival.ResultsIn the categorical variable analysis, we identified 11 studies with 1,279 patients. The pooled analyses suggested that overexpression of miR-17-5 p may predict poor overall survival (HR = 1.86, 95% CI: 1.55–2.25, P<0.001) and disease-free survival (HR = 1.43, 95% CI: 1.01–2.03, P=0.046) in patients with gastrointestinal tumors. Subgroup analysis showed the pooled HR of overall survival was more significant in tissue specimen, Asian patients, and digestive tract tumors. But there was no correlation between the outcomes and European patients.ConclusionsThis meta-analysis suggested that miR-17-5 p has predictive effects on overall survival and disease-free survival of patients with gastrointestinal tumors.