Prognostic role of survivin in bladder cancer: a systematic review and meta-analysis

The objective of the present study was to conduct a systematic review and meta-analysis of published literature investigating the survivin expression and its effects on bladder cancer prognosis.

We carefully searched online Pubmed, Cochrane Library and SCOPUS database from August 1997 to May 2013.

A total of 14 articles met the eligibility criteria for this systematic review. The eligible studies included a total of 2,165 patients with a median number of 155 patients per study (range: 17-726). Of the 14 studies, nine evaluated immunohistochemistry in formalin-fixed paraffin-embedded tissue blocks. In non-muscle invasive bladder tumor, the pooled hazard ratio (HR) was statistically significant for recurrence-free survival (pooled HR, 1.81; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.30-2.52), progression-free survival (pooled HR, 2.12; 95% CI, 1.60-2.82), cancer-specific survival (pooled HR, 2.01; 95% CI, 1.32-3.06), and overall survival (pooled HR, 1.53; 95% CI, 1.02-2.29). The overall HRs by survivin status were robust across advanced stages. When only adjusted survival data were included, statistically significant differences were identified for all survival subgroup analyses. There was no between-study heterogeneity in the effect of survivin status on the majority of meta-analyses. There was no clear evidence of publication bias in this meta-analysis.

Survivin expression indicates worse prognosis in patients with bladder cancer but the results should be interpreted with caution. It is necessary that better-designed studies with standardized assays need to provide a better conclusion about the relationship between survivin expression and the outcome of patients with bladder cancer.