Table 5. Summary of our data and previously published articles on the prognostic value of tumoral expression of RANK, RANKl and OPG.

	Elevated RANK	Elevated RANKL	Elevated OPG
ccRCC (osteolytic bone metastases)
Beuselinck (129 pts)	Poorer PFS and OS		Improved PFS and OS
Mikami (96 pts)	Poorer bone-metastasis-free survival (P<0.0001) Poorer disease-free survival (P=0.0013).	Poorer bone-metastasis-free survival (P<0.0001) Poorer disease-free survival (P<0.0001).	Improved bone-metastasis-free survival Improved disease-free survival (P=0.0329)
Breast carcinoma (osteoblastic and osteolytic bone metastases)
Sänger (1.941 ER+ pts)			Improved prognosis: better event-free survival (HR 0.64, 95% CI 0.53–0.77; P<0.0001)
Park (185 pts)	Poorer DFS (P=0.02)	Improved bone-metastasis-free survival (P=0.03)
Zhang (102 pts)	Poorer PFS (P=0.023) Poorer DSS (P=0.001) Poorer bone-metastasis-free survival (HR=2.266; 95% CI 1.289–3.984)
Prostate carcinoma (osteoblastic bone metastases)
Perez-Martinez (59 pts)		Poorer outcome: more biochemical recurrence (HR 11.6, P<0.001)
NSCLC (osteolytic bone metastases)
Peng (52 pts)		Poorer outcome: more metastatic spread and poorly differentiated tumours (P<0.05)	Poorer outcome: more metastatic spread (P<0.05)

Abbreviations: CI=confidence interval; ccRCC=clear cell renal cell carcinoma; DFS=disease-free survival; DSS=disease-specific survival; ER+=oestrogen receptor positive; HR=hazard ratio; NSCLC=non-small cell lung carcinoma; OS=overall survival; OPG, osteoprotegerin; RANK=receptor activator of NF-kB; RANKL=RANK-ligand; PFS=progression-free survival; Pts=patients.