Table 1.
Main characteristics of all studies included in the meta-analysis
| Study | Country | Case number | High expression (%) | Pathological type | NAC (%) | Location | Tumor stage | Follow-up (months) | Cut-off value | Multivariate analysis | HRs provided from | Outcome | NOS score |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ishibashi 2018 [12] | Japan | 143 | 75 (51.7) | Multiple | 72 (50.3) | 22/56/65 | 33/33/60/17 | NR | 0.085 | Yes/No | Report/SC | OS/CSS | 7 |
| Kunizaki 2018 [13] | Japan | 116 | 51 (44) | Squamous | NR | 15/31/19 | 0-II36/III-IV29 | Median 35.9 | 0.042 | Yes/No | Report/SC | OS/CSS | 7 |
| Otowa 2017 [14] | Japan | 149 | 114 (76.5) | Squamous | 149 (100) | 24/73/52 | IIA24/IIB36/III89 | NR | 0.03 | Yes | Report | OS | 6 |
| Shao 2015 [24] | China | 633 | 140 (22.1) | Squamous | 0 (0) | 33/428/172 | I106/IIa203/IIb92/III232 | Median 39 | 0.012 | Yes | Report | OS | 7 |
| Matsunaga 2019 [25] | Japan | 163 | 69 (42.3) | Multiple | 95 (58.3) | 32/86/45 | 012/I48/II45/III54/IV4 | NR | 0.0375 | No | SC | OS | 7 |
| Wei 2015 [22] | China | 423 | 147 (34.8) | Squamous | NR | 36/252/135 | 41/131/81/23 | Median 35.7 | 0.055 | Yes | Report | OS | 8 |
| Xu 2015 [23] | China | 468 | 87 (18.6) | Squamous | 0 (0) | 155/64/249 | I24/II181/IIIA121/IIIB+IIIC142 | Median 49.9 | 0.5 | Yes | Report | OS | 9 |
| Yu 2018 [26] | China | 160 | 85 (53.1) | Squamous | 0 (0) | 26/104/30 | I160 | Median 71.8 | 0.023 | Yes | Report | OS | 5 |
NAC neoadjuvant chemotherapy, NR not report, HR hazard ratio, SC survival curve, OS overall survival, CSS cancer-specific survival, NOS Newcastle-Ottawa Quality Assessment Scale