Table 3.
Summary of random effect meta-analyses for the association between miR-221 overexpression and overall survival of cancer patients.
| Study Groups | Studies Included | Test of Association | Test of Heterogeneity | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| HR (95% CI) | p-Value | I2% | p-Value | ||
| All studies | 25 | 1.48 (1.14–1.93) | 0.003 | 75 | <0.001 |
| Ethnicity | |||||
| Asian | 18 | 1.67 (1.30–2.14) | <0.001 | 62 | <0.001 |
| Mostly Caucasian | 5 | 1.30 (0.69–2.44) | 0.410 | 75 | 0.003 |
| Mixed | 2 | 0.64 (0.05–7.72) | 0.723 | 94 | <0.001 |
| Type of cancer | |||||
| Liver | 5 | 1.98 (1.51–2.60) | <0.001 | 0 | 0.698 |
| Gastro-intestinal | 7 | 1.29 (0.68–2.43) | 0.434 | 83 | <0.001 |
| Neurological | 6 | 1.56 (0.98–2.48) | 0.062 | 77 | <0.001 |
| Urogenital | 2 | 0.72 (0.18–2.90) | 0.638 | 70 | 0.069 |
| NSCLC | 2 | 1.92 (1.31–2.81) | 0.001 | 0 | 0.602 |
| Other | 3 | 1.51 (0.45–5.01) | 0.504 | 84 | 0.002 |
| No pre-treatment # | 14 | 1.84 (1.56–2.17) | <0.001 | 0 | 0.813 |
| Sample detected | |||||
| Fresh/frozen tissue | 12 | 1.54 (1.05–2.28) | 0.028 | 70 | <0.001 |
| FFPE | 10 | 1.68 (1.20–2.36) | 0.003 | 66 | 0.002 |
| Sample size * | |||||
| ≥100 | 9 | 1.27 (0.78–2.08) | 0.332 | 86 | <0.001 |
| <100 | 16 | 1.62 (1.21–2.18) | 0.001 | 58 | 0.002 |
| Survival analysis | |||||
| Univariate | 9 | 1.54 (1.07–2.21) | 0.020 | 55 | 0.024 |
| Multivariate | 16 | 1.46 (1.02–2.09) | 0.039 | 81 | <0.001 |
| NOS score | |||||
| ≥7 | 19 | 1.61 (1.20–2.16) | 0.002 | 71 | <0.001 |
| <7 | 6 | 1.17 (0.65–2.11) | 0.604 | 84 | <0.001 |
* Number of cancer patients; # Patients without pre-operative anticancer treatment; FFPE, formalin-fixed, paraffin-embedded tissue; HR, hazard ratio; NOS, Newcastle–Ottawa Scale; NSCLC, non-small cell lung cancer.