Table 1. The main characteristics of all studies in the meta-analysis.
| Study | country | Sample number | Tumor stage I/II/III/IV | MiRNAs identified | Follow-up months | Detected sample | Assay method | Cut-off value | Multivariate analysis | Survival analysis |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Lu 2017 [3] | China | 92 | 0/73/19/0 | MiR-26a | over 60 | tissue | qRT-PCR | median | NO | OS |
| Song 2014 [4] | China | 144 | IIA62/IIB-III82 | MiR-26a | median 83 | tissue | qRT-PCR | median | NO | OS, DFS |
| Sanchez-Diaz 2014 [5] | USA | 27 | NR | MiR-26a, miR-221, miR-126, miR-21, miR-92a | NR | tissue | qRT-PCR | median | YES | OS, RFS |
| Hong 2014 [41] | China | 80 | I-II50/III-IV30 | MiR-29a/b/c | over 40 | serum | qRT-PCR | median | NO | OS, DFS |
| Yang 2015 [42] | China | 108 | IIA63/IIB-III45 | MiR-221 | median 26.2 | serum | qRT-PCR | median | YES | OS, RFS |
| Liu 2015 [43] | China | 35 | NR | MiR-214 | NR | tissue | qRT-PCR | median | NO | OS |
| Wang 2014 [45] | China | 92 | NR | MiR-214 | median 82 | tissue | qRT-PCR | median | YES | OS, PFS |
| Allen-Rhoades 2015 [44] | USA | 40 | NR | MiR-214 | NR | plasma | qRT-PCR | other | NO | OS |
| Liu 2015 [46] | China | 122 | I-II81/III-IV41 | MiR-126 | NR | tissue | qRT-PCR | median | YES | OS |
| Han 2015 [47] | China | 107 | IIA32/IIB-III75 | MiR-195 | median 42 | tissue | qRT-PCR | median | YES | OS |
| Han 2015 [47] | China | 99 | IIA27/IIB-III72 | MiR-195 | NR | tissue | qRT-PCR | median | YES | OS |
| Cai 2015 [48] | China | 166 | IIA68/IIB-III98 | MiR-195 | median 87 | serum | qRT-PCR | median | YES | OS |
| Han 2015 [49] | China | 105 | IIA46/IIB-III59 | MiR-124 | over 60 | tissue | qRT-PCR | median | NO | OS |
| Wang 2016 [50] | China | 69 | 6/48/15/0 | MiR-124 | over 20 | tissue | qRT-PCR | other | NO | OS |
| Xu 2014 [51] | China | 79 | I-II39/III40 | MiR-9 | NR | tissue | qRT-PCR | median | NO | OS |
| Fei 2014 [52] | China | 118 | I-IIA64/IIB-III54 | MiR-9 | NR | serum | qRT-PCR | other | NO | OS |
| Yuan 2012 [53] | China | 65 | 19/46/0/0 | MiR-21 | NR | serum | qRT-PCR | median | YES | OS |
| Ren 2016 [54] | China | 84 | I-IIA36/IIB-III48 | MiR-21 | median 86 | tissue | qRT-PCR | median | YES | OS, DFS |
| Xu 2014 [55] | China | 115 | NR | MiR-382 | over 60 | tissue | qRT-PCR | median | NO | OS |
| Xu 2014 [56] | China | 168 | 0/0/35/133 | MiR-382 | over 40 | tissue | qRT-PCR | median | NO | MFS |
| Sarver 2013 [57] | USA | 16 | NR | MiR-382 | NR | tissue | qRT-PCR | median | NO | OS, MFS |
| Ma 2014 [58] | China | 89 | I-III58/IV31 | MiR-148a | median 41 | blood | qRT-PCR | median | NO | OS, DFS |
| Zhang 2016 [59] | China | 92 | NR | MiR-148a | NR | tissue | qRT-PCR | median | NO | OS |
| Meng 2016 [60] | China | 45 | IIA27/IIB-III18 | MiR-92a | median 36 | serum | qRT-PCR | other | NO | OS |
| Wu 2010 [61] | China | 42 | 2/36/4/0 | MiR-21 | mean 54.5 | tissue | qRT-PCR | median | NO | OS |
OS: overall survival; DFS: disease-specific survival; RFS: recurrence-free survival; MFS: metastasis-free survival.