Meta-Analysis
Copyright ©The Author(s) 2021. Published by Baishideng Publishing Group Inc. All rights reserved.
World J Meta-Anal. Dec 28, 2021; 9(6): 568-584
Published online Dec 28, 2021. doi: 10.13105/wjma.v9.i6.568
MicroRNAs as prognostic biomarkers for survival outcome in osteosarcoma: A meta-analysis
Shuai-Shuai Gao, Guo-Xun Zhang, Wen-Ting Zhang
Shuai-Shuai Gao, Guo-Xun Zhang, Wen-Ting Zhang, International Doctoral School, University of Seville, Seville 41004, Spain
Shuai-Shuai Gao, Department of Traumatology and Orthopedic Surgery, Xi'an Daxing Hospital, Xi'an 710016, Shaanxi Province, China
Author contributions: Gao SS drafting the article; Gao SS and Zhang GX searching of literature, acquisition of data; Gao SS and Zhang WT analysis and interpretation of data; Gao SS, Zhang GX and Zhang WT did final approval; Zhang GX revising the article; Zhang WT conception and design of the study, critical revision.
Conflict-of-interest statement: The authors deny any conflict of interest.
PRISMA 2009 Checklist statement: The authors have read the PRISMA 2009 Checklist, and the manuscript was prepared and revised according to the PRISMA 2009 Checklist.
Open-Access: This article is an open-access article that was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution NonCommercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: https://creativecommons.org/Licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Corresponding author: Wen-Ting Zhang, PhD, Doctor, International Doctoral School, University of Seville, Calle San Fernando, 4, Seville 41004, Spain. 724521882@qq.com
Received: August 7, 2021
Peer-review started: August 7, 2021
First decision: October 2, 2021
Revised: October 8, 2021
Accepted: December 24, 2021
Article in press: December 24, 2021
Published online: December 28, 2021
Processing time: 142 Days and 16.6 Hours
Abstract
BACKGROUND

Osteosarcoma was considered to be one of the most prevalent malignant bone tumors in adolescents.

AIM

To explore the prognostic significance of microRNA (miRNA) in osteosarcoma.

METHODS

The literature was selected by searching online in PubMed, Embase, Web of Science, Cochrane Library, China National Knowledge Infrastructure, and Wanfang Database until July 1, 2021. The pooled hazard ratio (HR) with corresponding 95% confidence interval (CI) for the outcomes of overall survival (OS), disease-free survival (DFS), progression-free survival (PFS) and recurrence-free survival were calculated. Subgroup analyses were carried out to identify potential sources of heterogeneity. Publication bias was assessed by Egger’s bias indicator test.

RESULTS

A total of 60 studies from 54 articles with 5824 osteosarcoma patients were included for this meta-analysis. The pooled HR for OS, DFS, PFS were 2.92 (95%CI: 2.43-3.41, P = 0.000), 3.70 (95%CI: 2.80-4.61, P = 0.000), and 3.57 (95%CI: 1.60-5.54, P = 0.000), respectively. The high miR-21 expression levels were related to poor OS in osteosarcoma (HR = 2.86, 95%CI: 1.20-4.53, P = 0.001). Subgroup analysis demonstrated that a high expression level of miRNA correlated with worse OS (HR: 3.56, 95%CI: 2.59-4.54, P = 0.000). In addition, miRNA from tissue (HR: 3.20, 95%CI: 2.16-4.23, P = 0.000) may be a stronger prognostic biomarker in comparison with that from serum and plasma.

CONCLUSION

miRNA (especially miR-21) could be served as a potential prognostic biomarker for osteosarcoma. A high expression level of miRNA in tumor tissue correlated with worse OS of osteosarcoma.

Keywords: Osteosarcoma; MicroRNA; Prognosis; Biomarker; Meta-analysis

Core Tip: Osteosarcoma is a common primary malignant bone tumor with a high degree of malignancy and poor prognosis. MicroRNA can be used as a valuable biomarker for the prognosis of osteosarcoma.