Table 1. Characteristics of studies included in this meta-analysis.
| Author | Year | Country | Ethnicity | Surgery | Chemotherapy | TNM | Design | N | Follow-up(month) | Biomarkers | Method | Cutoff | High/low | HR-E | AHR | ALL | AUL |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Lin | 2012 | China | Asian | Yes | PB/A | IB-IIIA | R | 169 | 53(3–66) | OS | ECLIA | 3.30 | 63/106 | HR | 1.70 | 1.19 | 2.44 |
| Tanaka | 2013 | Japan | Asian | NA | TKI/M | IIIB/IV | R | 160 | 32.5(23.3–44.6) | PFS/OS | ECLIA | 2.00 | 83/77 | HR | 1.10 | 0.85 | 1.41 |
| Park | 2013 | Korea | Asian | Yes | NA | I–III | R | 298 | 43.3(0.5–95.6) | PFS/OS | ECLIA | 1.95 | 114/184 | HR | 1.10 | 1.01 | 1.20 |
| Trapé | 2012 | Spain | Caucasion | No | PB/M | IIIA–IV | P | 137 | NA | OS | ECLIA | 3.30 | 91/46 | HR | 2.21 | 1.40 | 2.83 |
| Edelman | 2012 | USA | Mixed | NA | PB/NA | IIIB/IV | P | 88 | NA | PFS/OS | ECLIA | 4.18 | NA | SC | 1.68 | 1.33 | 2.11 |
| Jung | 2011 | Korea | Asian | NA | TKI/M | IIIB/IV | R | 123 | NA | PFS/OS | ECLIA | 3.30 | 64/59 | HR | 2.76 | 1.38 | 5.53 |
| Cedrés | 2011 | Spain | Caucasion | NA | NA | III–IV | R | 183 | 9.7(1–126) | PFS/OS | IRMA | 3.30 | 119/64 | SC | 1.52 | 1.06 | 2.20 |
| Hanagiri | 2011 | Japan | Asian | Yes | PB/A | I | R | 341 | 42 | OS | IRMA | 2.00 | 145/196 | HR | 2.57 | 1.21 | 5.44 |
| Ma | 2011 | China | Asian | NA | NA | I | R | 153 | 26(2–121) | OS | ECLIA | 3.30 | 41/112 | HR | 9.81 | 1.64 | 58.67 |
| Jin | 2010 | China | Asian | No | PB/NA | IIIB/IV | R | 111 | NA | OS | ELISA | 3.50 | 47/64 | HR | 1.68 | 1.05 | 2.69 |
| Takahashi | 2010 | Japan | Asian | NA | NA | I–IV | R | 1202 | NA | OS | CLEIA | 18.00 | NA | HR | 2.02 | 1.14 | 3.58 |
| Petris | 2011 | Sweden | Caucasion | NA | NA | I–IV | NA | 174 | NA | OS | ELISA | 6.00 | NA | HR | 0.80 | 0.73 | 1.32 |
| Tomita | 2010 | Japan | Asian | Yes | NA | I–III | R | 291 | 60.7–141.7 | OS | NA | 2.40 | 58/233 | HR | 1.57 | 1.29 | 1.89 |
| Nisman | 2009 | Israel | Asian | No | NA | IIIA–IV | P | 88 | NA | OS | ELISA | 3.20 | 60/28 | RR | 1.80 | 1.10 | 2.80 |
| Chen | 2010 | China | Asian | No | TKI/M | III–IV | R | 122 | NA | OS | ELISA | 3.30 | 49/73 | HR | 1.78 | 1.19 | 2.65 |
| Chakra | 2008 | France | Caucasion | NA | NA | I–IV | P | 451 | NA | OS | IRMA | 3.60 | 224/227 | HR | 1.50 | 1.20 | 1.86 |
| Jacot | 2008 | France | Caucasion | NA | NA | I–IV | P | 289 | 20.8(2.5–34.1) | OS | IRMA | 3.60 | 92/197 | HR | 2.30 | 1.52 | 3.49 |
| Ishikawa | 2008 | Japan | Asian | NA | TKI/M | IIIB/IV | R | 65 | 8.3(1.1–37.9) | PFS/OS | ECLIA | 2.80 | 48/17 | HR | 1.97 | 0.91 | 4.27 |
| Nisman | 2008 | Israel | Asian | No | PB/Mix | IIIA–IV | P | 60 | NA | OS | ELISA | 3.20 | 43/37 | RR | 0.50 | 0.30 | 0.90 |
| Hisashi | 2007 | Japan | Asian | Yes | NA | I–IV | R | 101 | 73 | OS | CLEIA | 3.50 | 6/95 | RR | 9.79 | 2.24 | 42.80 |
| Matsuoka | 2007 | Japan | Asian | Yes | NA | I | R | 256 | 35.5(3.7–75.5) | OS | ELISA | 2.80 | 35/221 | SC | 2.92 | 2.25 | 6.84 |
| Mizuguchi | 2007 | Japan | Asian | Yes | NA | I–IV | R | 272 | NA | OS | CLEIA | 2.00 | 149/123 | HR | 2.42 | 1.99 | 2.86 |
| Barle'si | 2005 | France | Caucasion | NA | TKI/NA | IIIB/IV | P | 51 | NA | OS | ELISA | 3.50 | 13/38 | HR | 2.45 | 1.13 | 5.29 |
| Muley | 2004 | Germany | Caucasion | Yes | NA | I | R | 153 | NA | OS | ELISA | 3.30 | NA | HR | 2.16 | 1.08 | 4.29 |
| Barlesi | 2004 | France | Caucasion | No | PB/M | IIIB/IV | P | 264 | 9(1–77) | OS | ELISA | 3.50 | 138/126 | HR | 1.30 | 1.06 | 1.78 |
| Trapé | 2003 | Spain | Caucasion | No | PB/NA | IIIA–IV | P | 48 | NA | OS | ECLIA | 3.60 | NA | HR | 1.75 | 0.93 | 3.65 |
| Kulpa | 2002 | Poland | Caucasion | NA | NA | I–IV | NA | 200 | NA | OS | ECLIA | 3.60 | 127/73 | HR | 1.31 | 0.92 | 1.87 |
| Reinmuth | 2002 | Germany | Caucasion | Yes | NA | I–IIIA | P | 66 | 42(NA-86) | OS | ELISA | 3.57 | 23/43 | SC | 2.80 | 0.98 | 7.99 |
| Ono | 2013 | Japan | Asian | No | NA | IIIB/IV | R | 284 | NA | OS | CLEIA | 2.20 | 134/150 | HR | 0.43 | 0.31 | 0.59 |
| Ondrej F | 2014 | Czech | Caucasion | NA | TKI/M | IIIB/IV | R | 144 | NA | OS/PFS | ELISA | 2.50 | 83/61 | HR | 2.17 | 1.48 | 3.19 |
| Monik | 2014 | NA | Gaussian | Yes | None | I–IV | P | 50 | 72.5(4–108) | OS | ELISA | 2.10 | 0.45 | SC | 1.00 | 0.45 | 2.21 |
HR-E: HR Estimate; R: retrospective; P: prospective; NA: not available; PB/A: Platinum-based/adjuvant chemotherapy; PB/M: Platinum-based/metastatic chemotherapy; PB/mix: Platinum-based/adjuvant chemotherapy and metastatic chemotherapy; TKI/M: TKI/metastatic chemotherapy; TKI/Mix: TKI/adjuvant and metastatic chemotherapy; SC: survival curve; AHR: adjusted hazard ratio; ALL: adjusted lower limit; AUL: adjusted upper limit; ECLIA: electrochemiluminescence immunoassay; ELISA: enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay; CLEIA: chemiluminescent enzyme immunoassay; IRMA: immunoradiometric assay.