The effect of circulating miR-223 on surveillance of different cancers: a meta-analysis

Abnormal expression of miR-223 in cancerous tissue has confirmed it as an important player in tumorigenesis of cancers, such as hepatocellular carcinoma, colorectal carcinoma, osteosarcoma, gastric cancer, and chronic lymphocytic leukemia. The present meta-analysis aimed to explore the association between circulating miR-223 and prognosis of cancers.

The studies were accessed by an electronic search of multiple databases. RevMan5.3 and STATA14.0 were used to estimate the heterogeneity among studies, pooled effects, and publication bias.

Ten studies with data of 1,002 patients with cancer were included in this meta-analysis. The risk of metastasis from stages 3 to 4 of TNM did not decrease when high versus low circulating expression of miR-223 were compared (pooled odds ratio =0.50, 95% CI: 0.24-1.03). In case of prognosis, the overall survival time was not significantly longer with high circulating miR-223 expression (pooled hazard ratio [HR] =0.64, 95% CI: 0.38-1.11) in all cancer types. However, the overall survival time of chronic lymphocytic leukemia (pooled HR =0.19, 95% CI: 0.07-0.54) increased in subgroup analysis. Moreover, the treatment-free survival of chronic lymphocytic leukemia was significantly increased with high circulating miR-223 expression (pooled HR =0.38, 95% CI: 0.23-0.64).

Circulating miR-223 was not an effective biomarker in prognosis surveillance in all cancers but in chronic lymphocytic leukemia.