Meta-analysis: prognostic value of survivin in patients with hepatocellular carcinoma

The expression of survivin is a promising prognostic indicator for some carcinomas. However, evidence for the prognostic value of survivin with respect to survival in hepatocellular carcinoma remains controversial.

To conduct a systematic review of studies evaluating survivin expression in hepatocellular carcinoma as a prognostic indicator.

The relevant literature was searched using PubMed, EMBASE, and Chinese biomedicine databases, and two meta-analyses were performed. One studied the association between survivin expression and the overall survival of patients with hepatocellular carcinoma, whereas the other studied the association between survivin expression and disease-free survival. Studies were pooled, and summary hazard ratios (HRs) were calculated. Subgroup analyses were also conducted.

Fourteen eligible studies with a total of 890 patients were included in this study. Two meta-analyses were performed according to the different outcomes by which prognosis was valued. The combined HR of the overall survival studies was 2.33 (95% CI: 1.65-3.31). The combined HR of disease-free survival studies was 2.13 (95% CI: 1.65-2.75). These data appeared to be significant when stratified by detection method, the language of publication, and HR estimate. The heterogeneities were highly significant (I(2)>50%) when subgroup analyses of overall survival rate were conducted, whereas little heterogeneity was found when subgroup analyses of disease-free survival rate were carried out. The positive expression of survivin in the cytoplasm was significantly correlated with poor prognosis in HCC (HR>1).

This study showed that survivin expression was correlated with poor prognosis in patients with hepatocellular carcinoma, regardless whether they were assessed by overall survival or disease-free survival.