Hua Ge

Long non-coding RNA CRNDE as a potential prognostic biomarker in solid tumors: A meta-analysis

BACKGROUND AND AIMnLong non-coding RNA colorectal neoplasia differentially expressed (CRNDE) has been demonstrated to be highly expressed in many malignant tumors; however, the role of CRNDE in cancer remains undetermined because of limitations in sample size. We conducted a meta-analysis to assess the role of CRNDE in cancer.nnnMETHODSnPubMed, Medline, Cochrane Library, Web of Science, EMBASE database, Ovid, Chinese CNKI, and Chinese WanFang database were systematically searched. The relation between CRNDE and the clinicopathological characteristics and prognosis of patients with cancer was determined using pooled odds ratios (ORs) and hazard ratios (HRs) with 95% confidence interval (CI).nnnRESULTSnThirteen studies with 1570 patients were included. The pooled results indicated that high CRNDE expression was related to lymph node metastasis (YES vs. NO: ORu202f=u202f3.50, 95% CIu202f=u202f[1.05, 8.09]) and TNM stage (Iu202f+u202fII vs. IIIu202f+u202fIV: ORu202f=u202f0.26, 95% CIu202f=u202f[0.18, 0.37]) but not to gender, tumor size, and differentiation. High CRNDE expression indicated poor overall survival (OS) (HRu202f=u202f2.06, 95% CIu202f=u202f[1.66, 2.47]). CRNDE could be an independent predictive factor for OS (HRu202f=u202f1.62, 95% CIu202f=u202f[1.15, 2.08]) in patients with cancer.nnnCONCLUSIONnTherefore, high CRNDE expression was associated with advanced clinicopathological characteristics, and CRNDE could be used as a reliable prognostic biomarker in human cancer. However, more high-quality studies with a large sample size are needed to support this meta-analysis.

Clinicopathological and prognostic significance of OCT4 in patients with hepatocellular carcinoma: a meta-analysis

Background and aims Octamer-binding transcription factor 4 (OCT4) has been implicated in the development of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC), although the findings are controversial. We conducted a meta-analysis to assess the correlation between OCT4 and the clinicopathological characteristics and the prognostic value in HCC. Methods An electronic search for relevant articles was conducted in PubMed, Cochrane Library, Web of Science, EMBASE database, Chinese CNKI, and Chinese WanFang database. Correlations between OCT4 expression and clinicopathological features and survival outcomes were analyzed. Pooled odds ratios and hazard ratios with 95% CIs were calculated using STATA 14.2 software. Results A total of 10 trials with 985 patients were included. Positive OCT4 expression was correlated with tumor size, tumor numbers, differentiation, and TNM stage. OCT4 expression was not correlated with gender, age, hepatitis B surface antigen, alfa-fetoprotein, liver cirrhosis, vascular invasion, or tumor encapsulation. OCT4 expression was associated with poor 3- and 5-year overall survival, and disease-free survival rate. Conclusion OCT4 expression was associated with tumor size, tumor numbers, differentiation, and TNM stage in HCC. OCT4 may be a useful prognostic biomarker for HCC.

The clinicopathological and prognostic value of Nanog in human gastrointestinal luminal cancer: A meta-analysis

BACKGROUNDnRecent studies have demonstrated that the over-expression of Nanog contributes to the progression of various malignant tumors. However, the clinicopathological and prognostic role of Nanog in gastrointestinal luminal cancer remains controversial. Therefore, we conducted a meta-analysis to assess the role of Nanog in gastrointestinal luminal cancer.nnnMETHODSnAn electronic search for relevant literature was performed in PubMed, Cochrane Library, Web of Science, and EMBASE databases. The relationships between Nanog expression and clinicopathological features and survival outcomes were analyzed. Pooled odds ratios (ORs) and hazard ratios (HRs) with 95% confidence intervals (CIs) were calculated by STATA14.2 and RevMan 5.3 software.nnnRESULTSnA total of 9 studies with 1526 patients were included in this meta-analysis. The positive expression of Nanog was related to gender, depth of infiltration, differentiation, and TNM stage; however, it was not associated with age, tumor size, or lymph node metastasis. Moreover, positive Nanog expression was correlated with a poor overall survival (OS) and poor disease-free survival (DFS) in gastrointestinal luminal cancer.nnnCONCLUSIONnThe pooled results suggested that Nanog expression was associated with gender, depth of infiltration, differentiation, and TNM stage, and Nanog may be a potential biomarker to predict the prognosis of gastrointestinal luminal cancer.

The clinicopathological and prognostic value of long non-coding RNA ZEB1-AS1 in solid tumors: A meta-analysis

BACKGROUND AND AIMnStudies have reported that Zinc finger E-box binding homeobox 1 antisense 1 (ZEB1-AS1) is overexpressed in many malignant tumors. However, the sample size in those studies was limited, so the clinicopathological and prognostic value of ZEB1-AS1 in solid tumors remains undetermined, Accordingly, the aim of this meta-analysis was to evaluate the relationship between the expression of lncRNA ZEB1-AS1 and clinicopathological characteristics and prognosis in patients with solid tumors.nnnMETHODSnPooled odds ratios (ORs) and hazard ratios (HRs) were estimated with 95% confidence interval (CI) to assess the relation between ZEB1-AS1 and the clinicopathological characteristics and prognosis of patients with cancer.nnnRESULTSnA total of 10 studies, comprising 861 patients, were included in this meta-analysis. The pooled results suggested that high ZEB1-AS1 expression was related to low differentiation (low vs. highu202f+u202fmoderate: ORu202f=u202f2.99, 95% CIu202f=u202f[2.03, 4.39]), increased lymph node metastasis (YES vs. NO: ORu202f=u202f4.62, 95% CIu202f=u202f[2.90, 7.37]) and advanced TNM stage (Iu202f+u202fII vs. IIIu202f+u202fIV: ORu202f=u202f0.41, 95% CIu202f=u202f[0.23, 0.75]), but not to gender and tumor size. Moreover, high ZEB1-AS1 expression was associated with poor overall survival (OS; HRu202f=u202f1.86, 95% CIu202f=u202f[1.57, 2.14]) and disease-free survival (DFS; HRu202f=u202f2.03, 95% CIu202f=u202f[1.28, 2.77]). Thus, ZEB1-AS1 could be an independent predictive factor for OS (HRu202f=u202f2.07, 95% CIu202f=u202f[1.57, 2.56]) in patients with cancers.nnnCONCLUSIONnHigh expression of ZEB1-AS1 was associated with advanced clinicopathological characteristics, and ZEB1-AS1overexpression may be a potential prognostic biomarker in human cancer. However, more studies involving various tumor types and large sample size are needed.

Prognostic and clinicopathological value of Nanog in hepatocellular carcinoma: A meta-analysis

BACKGROUND AND AIMSnRecently, studies indicate that Nanog is over-expressed in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC); however, the relationship between Nanog expression and clinicopathological and prognostic value remains controversial. Therefore, we conducted a meta-analysis to explore the role of Nanog in HCC.nnnMETHODSnArticles were included from PubMed, Cochrane Library, Web of Science, EMBASE database, Chinese CNKI, and the Chinese WanFang database. The relationships between Nanog expression, clinicopathological features, and survival rate were calculated. Pooled odds ratios (ORs) and hazard ratios (HRs) with 95% confidence intervals (CIs) were calculated with STATA14.2.nnnRESULTSnA total of 845 patients from 9 articles were enrolled. Positive Nanog expression was correlated with HBsAg, differentiation, and TNM stage, although it was not related to gender, age, alpha-fetoprotein (AFP), tumor size, tumor number, liver cirrhosis, and vascular invasion. Positive Nanog expression indicates a poor 3-year and 5-year overall survival and disease-free survival rate.nnnCONCLUSIONnThe results show that Nanog expression was related to HBsAg, differentiation, and TNM stage in HCC. Nanog may be an unfavorable prognostic biomarker for HCC.

miR-564 inhibits hepatocellular carcinoma cell proliferation and invasion by targeting the GRB2-ERK1/2-AKT axis

Recent studies have shown that miR-564 is closely related to the development of various tumors, including breast cancer, lung cancer and glioma. However, few studies have examined miR-564 in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). Here, we demonstrated that miR-564 expression in HCC tissues was lower than that in adjacent noncancerous tissues and that miR-564 expression was associated with tumor size, tumor number and vein invasion. Bioinformatics analyses showed that low levels of miR-564 were correlated with poor prognosis. Furthermore, upregulation of miR-564 impaired SMCC7721 and MHCC97H cell proliferation, migration and invasion in vitro and reduced tumorigenesis in vivo. Next, we found that GRB2 was a direct target gene of miR-564 in the HCC cell lines. GRB2 was highly expressed in HCC tissues and negatively correlated with miR-564 expression levels. When GRB2 was downregulated by GRB2-siRNA, HCC cell proliferation, invasion and metastasis were impaired, and restoring GRB2 expression partially reversed the inhibitory effects of miR-564. Western blot analysis showed that miR-564 overexpression reduced GRB2 expression in HCC cell lines and inhibited ERK1/2 and AKT phosphorylation. miR-564 overexpression also upregulated the epithelial-like cell marker E-cadherin and downregulated the interstitial cell-like markers N-cadherin and vimentin. These results suggest that miR-564 inhibits the malignant phenotype of HCC cells by targeting the GRB2-ERK1/2-AKT axis. Consequently, miR-564 may be used as a prognostic marker and therapeutic target for HCC.

Clinicopathological and prognostic significance of FoxM1 in hepatocellular carcinoma patients: a meta-analysis

Background and aims Recently, the abnormal expression of FoxM1 has been found in many malignant tumors. However, the clinicopathological and prognostic value of FoxM1 expression in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) patients remains controversial. We conducted a meta-analysis to establish the relationship between FoxM1 expression and the clinicopathological features and prognostic value in patients with HCC. Methods An electronic search for relevant articles was conducted according to a set of criteria in the PubMed, Cochrane Library, Web of Science, EMBASE, Chinese CNKI and Chinese WanFang databases. The correlation data between FoxM1 expression and clinicopathological features and survival outcomes were analyzed. Pooled odds ratios (ORs) and hazard ratios (HRs) with 95% CIs were calculated using STATA14.2. Results A total of 14 studies comprising of 2,036 patients were enrolled in this meta-analysis. The results showed that FoxM1 expression was related to the incidence, tumor size (>5 cm), vascular invasion, differentiation and TNM stage. Moreover, overexpression of FoxM1 indicated a poor 3- and 5-year overall survival rate (OS) and recurrence-free survival rate (disease-free survival rate). Conclusion Our meta-analysis indicated that FoxM1 expression was associated with incidence, tumor size (>5 cm), vascular invasion, differentiation and TNM stage. Accordingly, FoxM1 may be a reliable prognostic biomarker for patients with HCC. However, additional high-quality studies are still needed to further support these findings.

Clinicopathological significance and prognostic role of p-STAT3 in patients with hepatocellular carcinoma

Background and aim Constitutive activation of STAT3 through its phosphorylation (p-STAT3) plays a key role in the development and progression of various cancers. However, the relationship between p-STAT3 expression and the clinicopathological features and prognostic value in patients with hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) remains controversial. We conducted a meta-analysis to evaluate the role of p-STAT3 in HCC. Methods The PubMed, Cochrane Library, Web of Science, EMBASE, Chinese CNKI, and Chinese Wanfang databases were searched using the appropriate terms to find the relevant studies on p-STAT3 and HCC. The relationship between p-STAT3 expression and clinicopathological characteristics and prognostic value was established. Pool odds ratios (ORs) and hazard ratios (HRs) with 95% CIs were calculated using the STATA 14.2 software. Results The eight articles included in this meta-analysis comprised 752 patients. Expression of p-STAT3 was associated with incidence, age, liver cirrhosis, tumor size, vascular invasion, and TNM stage of HCC, but it was not related to gender, alpha-fetoprotein (AFP), hepatitis B surface antigen (HBsAg), number of tumors, and tumor differentiation. Additionally, the expression of p-STAT3 was related to a poor 3- and 5-year overall survival rate and disease-free survival rate. Conclusion Expression of p-STAT3 was associated with the incidence, age, liver cirrhosis, tumor size, vascular invasion, and TNM stage. Thus, p-STAT3 can be a reliable prognostic biomarker for HCC. Further high-quality studies with larger numbers of patients are needed.

The clinicopathological and prognostic value of HSP27 in hepatocellular carcinoma: a systematic review and meta-analysis

Background In the recent past, there is increasing evidence demonstrating that HSP27 plays a key role in tumor progression. However, the relationship between HSP27 expression and the clinicopathological features of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC), as well as its prognostic value in HCC patients remain controversial. Accordingly, we conducted a meta-analysis to assess the correlation between HSP27 expression and HCC, and determine the prognostic value of HSP27 in HCC. Methods The data included clinicopathological features and survival information extracted from the published literature in the databases PubMed, EMBASE, Cochrane Library, Web of Science, CNKI, and Wan Fang. The pooled odds ratios and hazard ratios with 95% CIs were calculated using Forest plot analysis. Results The meta-analysis results indicated that the positive HSP27 expression was significantly correlated with HCC incidence, tumor differentiation, and α-fetoprotein level in patients with HCC. However, the expression of HSP27 was not associated with metastasis, hepatitis B virus surface antigen, gender, tumor size, TNM stage, and vascular invasion. Additionally, HSP27 expression indicated a poor overall survival rate, but it was not related to disease-free survival rate. Conclusion This meta-analysis revealed that HSP27 may play a key role in the development of HCC and could be a reliable biomarker for the prognosis of patients with HCC. However, additional high-quality research is needed to support the results.

DcR3 induces proliferation, migration, invasion, and EMT in gastric cancer cells via the PI3K/AKT/GSK-3β/β-catenin signaling pathway

Background Decoy receptor 3 (DcR3) has been reported to be overexpressed in a wide variety of malignancies and is correlated with tumorigenesis and progression. In gastric cancer (GC), DcR3 overexpression is associated with lymph node and distant metastasis, as well as poor prognosis. However, the functional role of DcR3 expression in GC remains elusive. Purpose The aim of this study is to elucidate the direct role of DcR3 in regulating GC progression and metastasis and identify the potential mechanism. Methods DcR3 expression was stably knocked down in HGC27 and MKN28 cells by transfecting the cells with DcR3 shRNA using lentiviral vector system. After the knockdown of DcR3 was confirmed, cell proliferation, colony formation, cell cycle distribution, apoptosis, cell invasion and migration were assessed in vitro. In addition, Western blot analysis was performed to evaluate the expression of downstream mediators of DcR3. Comparisons between multiple groups were performed using one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) or unpaired Student’s t-test. Differences were considered significant at P<0.05. Results Our findings demonstrate that DcR3 induces proliferation, migration, invasion, and promotes epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT) of GC cells. In addition, DcR3 increases the expression levels of several components of the PI3K/AKT/GSK-3β/β-catenin signaling pathway, such as p-AKT, GSK-3β, p-GSK-3β and β-catenin. Additionally, DcR3 also enhances the expression of N-cadherin and Vimentin and decreases the expression of E-cadherin. Conclusion In summary, the findings of this study indicate that during GC progression, DcR3 plays a key role in cell proliferation and invasion via the PI3K/AKT/GSK-3β/β-catenin signaling pathway. Thus, targeting DcR3 might be a potential therapeutic approach for the treatment of GC.