Role of long noncoding RNA UCA1 as a common molecular marker for lymph node metastasis and prognosis in various cancers: a meta-analysis

// Anbang He 1,2,* , Rong Hu 1,* , Zhicong Chen 2,3,* , Xinhui Liao 1,* , Jianfa Li 2,3 , Dailian Wang 2,4 , Zhaojie Lv 1 , Yuchen Liu 1,2 , Feng Wang 1 and Hongbing Mei 1,2 1 Department of Urology, Shenzhen Second People’s Hospital, The First Affiliated Hospital of Shenzhen University, Shenzhen, Guangdong, China 2 Key Laboratory of Medical Reprogramming Technology, Shenzhen Second People’s Hospital, The First Affiliated Hospital of Shenzhen University, Shenzhen, China 3 Shantou University Medical College, Shantou, Guangdong, China 4 Guangzhou Medical University, Guangzhou, Guangdong, China * These authors have contributed equally to this work Correspondence to: Feng Wang, email: // Hongbing Mei, email: // Keywords : UCA1, lncRNA, prognosis, survival, lymph node metastasis Received : July 15, 2016 Accepted : September 21, 2016 Published : October 04, 2016 Abstract Accumulating evidences indicated that UCA1 expression was up-regulated in various cancers, and high UCA1 expression was correlated with metastasis and prognosis. This meta-analysis collected all eligible studies and explored the relationships between UCA1 expression and lymph node metastasis (LNM) or overall survival (OS). Literature collection was performed by using electronic databases PubMed, Cochrane Library, and Web of Science (up to June 13, 2016). According to the inclusion and exclusion criteria, twelve studies were included in the meta-analysis. The result showed that high UCA1 expression was correlated with more LNM (OR=2.50, 95 %CI: 1.58-3.96, p<0.0001) in a random-effects model (I2=45 %, p=0.08) and could predict poor OS in cancer patients, with pooled hazard ratio (HR) of 1.65 [95% confidence interval (CI) 1.44-1.88, p<0.00001] indicated by a fixed-effects model (I2=35%, p=0.11). In conclusion, the present meta-analysis demonstrated that high expression of UCA1 might serve as a common molecular marker for predicting lymph node metastasis and prognosis in various cancers.