Prognostic value and clinical significance of long noncoding RNA CASC2 in human malignancies: a meta-analysis

• Main Authors: Cai J, Zuo X, Chen Z, Zhao W, Zhu Y, Zhang Z, Ye X
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Dove Medical Press 2018-05-01
• Series: Cancer Management and Research
• Subjects: CASC2; long non-coding RNA; prognosis; meta-analysis
• Online Access: https://www.dovepress.com/prognostic-value-and-clinical-significance-of-long-noncoding-rna-casc2-peer-reviewed-article-CMAR

Juan Cai,1,* Xueliang Zuo,2,* Zhiqiang Chen,3,4,* Wenying Zhao,1 Yiping Zhu,1 Zhengxiang Zhang,1 Xiaobing Ye1 1Department of Oncology, The First Affiliated Hospital, Yijishan Hospital of Wannan Medical College, Wuhu, Anhui, China; 2Department of Gastrointestinal Surgery, The First Affiliated Hospital, Yijishan Hospital of Wannan Medical College, Wuhu, Anhui, China; 3Hepatobiliary Center, The First Affiliated Hospital of Nanjing Medical University, Nanjing, Jiangsu, China; 4Key Laboratory of Liver Transplantation, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences, Nanjing, Jiangsu, China *These authors contributed equally to this work Purpose: This meta-analysis aimed to assess the prognostic value of long noncoding RNA cancer susceptibility candidate 2 (CASC2) in human tumors. Materials and methods: We searched the available databases up to December 2017. Pooled hazard ratios (HRs) and the corresponding 95% confidence intervals (CIs) were used to examine the prognostic impact of CASC2 on overall survival (OS) in patients diagnosed with malignancies. Results: A total of eight studies with 663 cancer patients were enrolled. Our results showed that high CASC2 expression level was associated with a favorable OS (HR=0.437, 95% CI: 0.345–0.554). The significant results were not altered by stratified analysis according to cancer type, sample size, follow-up months, and HR estimation method. A significant association of glioma tumor stage with CASC2 expression was detected (III–IV vs I–II: odds ratio=2.126, 95% CI: 1.032–4.378). CASC2 could be used as an independent prognostic factor for OS (HR=0.450, 95% CI: 0.336–0.602). Sensitivity analysis showed that no single study changed the pooled results significantly. Begg’s funnel plot and Egger’s test showed that no publication bias was detected. Conclusion: High expression level of CASC2 is associated with favorable survival outcome for cancer patients, and CASC2 could be used as a prognostic predictor for cancers. Keywords: CASC2, long noncoding RNA, prognosis, meta-analysis