Clinicopathological and Prognostic Value of Long Noncoding RNA SNHG15 in Human Cancers: a Meta-Analysis and Bioinformatics.

Background: Recently, accumulating evidence has suggested that the long noncoding RNA small nucleolar RNA host gene 15 (lncRNA SNHG15) was elevated in various malignancies and correlated to poor clinical outcome of patients. However, the prognosis value of SNHG15 in tumors remains not well understood.

Methods: The PubMed, Web of Science, Embase, Ovid, Cochrane Library databases were used to search for eligible articles. Stata MP14.0 software was applied in the systematic meta-analysis. The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) dataset was adopted to verify the results.

Results: A total of 13 studies including 1,190 patients were enrolled in this meta-analysis. SNHG15 high expression predicted shorter overall survival (OS) (hazard ratio (HR) = 2.34, 95% confidence interval (CI): 1.75 - 3.12, p < 0.001) with no statistical heterogeneity, which was validated by the data of TCGA. The subgroup analyses stratified according to OS analysis method, cancer type, sample size, and follow-up time showed similar results. Additionally, SNHG15 expression was positively associated with TNM stage (III + IV vs. I + II, odds ratio (OR) = 2.23, 95% CI: 1.14 - 4.38, p = 0.020) and poor differentiation (low + undifferentiated vs. well + moderate, OR = 2.89, 95% CI: 1.89 - 4.42, p < 0.001).

Conclusions: IncRNA SNHG15 may act as a useful and potential biomarker for prognosis and clinical parameters in human cancers.