LncRNA PCAT-1 in gastrointestinal cancers: A meta-analysis.

Background: Prostate-cancer-associated ncRNA transcript 1 (PCAT-1), a newly discovered lncRNA, was implicated in the progression of multiple tumors. We conducted a systematic review and meta-analysis to determine its prognostic potential for gastrointestinal cancers.

Methods: A literature survey was conducted by searching the PubMed, Web of Science, Cochrane Library, Embase together with Wanfang, and China National Knowledge Infrastructure (CNKI) database for articles published as of October 15, 2017. Hazard ratio (HR) or odds ratio (OR) with 95% confidence intervals (95% CIs) were calculated to demonstrate prognostic value of PCAT-1 using Stata 12.0 software.

Results: A total of 6 studies with 961 cases were pooled in the analysis to evaluate the prognostic value of PCAT-1 in gastrointestinal cancers. Increased PCAT-1 expression was significantly correlated with poor overall survival (OS) (HR = 1.04, 95% CI: 1.02-1.06). Statistical significance was also observed in subgroup meta-analysis stratified by cancer type, histology type, sample size, and analysis type. Additionally, high expression of PCAT-1 was significantly associated with deeper tumor invasion (OR = 4.46, 95% CI: 3.00-6.63), positive lymph node metastasis (OR = 3.76, 95% CI: 1.39-10.16), and advanced clinical stage (OR = 4.09, 95% CI: 1.55-10.82).

Conclusion: High expression of PCAT-1 was related to poor prognosis and could be a promising biomarker of clinicopathologic features in gastrointestinal cancers. More studies will be necessary to verify and strengthen the clinical value of PCAT-1 in gastrointestinal cancers.