Table 1.
Main characteristics of 10 studies included in the meta- analysis.
| Study | Year | Region | Sample size | Follow- up time (median and range) | Age (mean and range) | Cancer | Predominant treatment | Stage (I/II/III/IV) | Tumor differentiation (well/moderate/poor) | No. of distal metastasis | Survival analysis | Result |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Qifeng [28] | 2011 | China | 87 | NR | ≥ 60: n = 54 < 60: n = 33 | Esophageal squamous cell carcinoma | NR | I,II: n = 33; III,IV: n = 54 | 32/19/36 | NR | OS | Worse (positive VS negative) |
| Ito [29] | 2016 | Japan | 90 | NR | 62.7(38–82) | Esophageal Squamous Cell Carcinoma | radical surgery without preoperative therapy | NR | 36/46/8 | 47 | OS | NS (high VS low) |
| RFS | NS (high VS low) | |||||||||||
| Reimers [30] | 2014 | Netherlands | 495 | NR | 64.5 | Rectal | non-preoperative radiotherapy | 134/136/193/32 | 25/358/110 | NR | OS | NS (expression VS loss, downregulation VS loss) |
| RFS | good (expression VS loss); NS (downregulation VS loss) | |||||||||||
| Mizukami [31] | 2008 | Japan | 70 | (49–168) m | 64.9 | Oesophageal squamous cell carcinoma | operated | 14/36/24/0 | 15/38/17 | 41 | OS | Worse (weak + absent VS strong) |
| TANAKA [32] | 2012 | Japan | 95 | 95.6 (5.1–183.7) m | 63 (46–86) | Advanced esophageal | radical esophagectomy | I,II: n = 54; III,IV: n = 41 | NR | 0 | OS | All stage: worse; I/II: NS; III/IV: worse (downregulation VS up) |
| Zhang [33] | 2012 | China | 105 | 14 (4–40) m | ≤ 59: n = 50 > 59: n = 55 | Esophageal squamous cell carcinoma | Radiotherapy or chemotherapy | I/II: n = 27; III/IV: n = 78 | Well + moderate: n = 62; Poor: n = 43 | NR | OS | Good (strong VS weak) |
| Study | Year | Region | Sample size | Follow- up time (median and range) | Age (mean and range) | Cancer | Predominant treatment | Stage (I/II/III/IV) | Tumor differentiation (well/moderate/poor) | No. of distal metastasis | Survival analysis | Result |
| Umemoto[34] | 2014 | Japan | 80 | 2427 d | 62.8 | Hepatocellular carcinoma | Hepatectomy | I,II: n = 21; II,IV: n = 15 | Well/moderate: n = 20; poor: n = 16 | NR | OS | NS (high VS low) |
| Imai [35] | 2017 | Japan | 36 | NR | 68.2 | Pancreatic cancer | pancreatic resection | I,II: n = 24; III,IV: n = 12 | Well: n = 25; moderate and poor: n = 11 | NR | OS | Good (high VS low) |
| RFS | Good (high VS low) | |||||||||||
| Moller [13] | 1991 | Germany | 152 | 48 (45–65) m | 66 | Colorectal carcinoma1 | Surgery | 52/48/52/0 | 17/112/23 | NR | RFS | Worse (normal VS reduced) |
| Iwayama [36] | 2015 | Japan | 97 | 54 m | (31–83) | Colorectal cancer | Chemotherapy | II: n = 97 | Well/moderate: n = 88; poor: n = 9 | NR | RFS | Worse (negative VS positive) |