Table 1. Subgroup analysis of the diagnostic performance of ctDNA assay for HCC.
| Analysis | Group | Subgroup | SEN (95% CI) | SPE (95% CI) | DOR (95% CI) | AUC | I2 (%) | P |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Qualitative analysis | Region | Asia | 0.48(0.42–0.55) | 0.90(0.86–0.93) | 8.83(6.20–12.48) | 0.77 | 85.0% | 0.000 |
| Africa | 0.37(0.16–0.63) | 0.85(0.60–0.95) | 3.22(1.05–9.82) | 0.66 | 88.3% | 0.000 | ||
| Control type | HC | 0.45(0.38–0.53) | 0.94(0.94–0.99) | 30.87(14.87–64.11) | 0.79 | 59.6% | 0.000 | |
| BD | 0.52(0.46–0.59) | 0.87(0.82–0.90) | 7.06(5.14–9.69) | 0.77 | 83.4% | 0.000 | ||
| Sample source | plasma | 0.44(0.34–0.55) | 0.88(0.81–0.92) | 5.77(3.26–10.20) | 0.76 | 86.0% | 0.000 | |
| serum | 0.54(0.48–0.61) | 0.89(0.85–0.93) | 10.61(7.54–14.94) | 0.78 | 74.9% | 0.000 | ||
| Publication year | 2000–2010 | 0.39(0.29–0.50) | 0.98(0.92–0.99) | 26.83(7.59–96.87) | 0.75 | 48.4% | 0.010 | |
| 2011–2021 | 0.54(0.46–0.61) | 0.86(0.82–0.90) | 7.40(5.11–10.74) | 0.79 | 89.1% | 0.000 | ||
| Sample size | ≥100 | 0.50(0.41–0.59) | 0.89(0.83–0.92) | 7.80(5.42–11.22) | 0.78 | 90.1% | 0.000 | |
| <100 | 0.49(0.40–0.58) | 0.92(0.86–0.96) | 10.99(5.37–22.50) | 0.78 | 75.4% | 0.000 | ||
| Assay methods | MSP | 0.49(0.43–0.55) | 0.90(0.85–0.93) | 8.58(6.07–12.12) | 0.75 | 72.8% | 0.000 | |
| Other methods | 0.51(0.37–0.64) | 0.90(0.83–0.94) | 9.56(4.84–18.88) | 0.82 | 89.6% | 0.000 | ||
| Ctdna assay | methylation | 0.52(0.45–0.58) | 0.89(0.86–0.92) | 9.05(6.50–12.60) | 0.79 | 85.3% | 0.000 | |
| mutation | 0.21(0.08–0.46) | 0.95(0.60–1.00) | 5.11(0.41–62.71) | 0.53 | 88.9% | 0.000 | ||
| Quantitative analysis | Region | Asia | 0.68(0.61–0.74) | 0.85(0.78–0.91) | 12.39(7.40–20.74) | 0.81 | 86.5% | 0.000 |
| Africa | 0.72(0.61–0.81) | 0.78(0.59–0.90) | 9.39(5.47–16.11) | 0.80 | 60.9% | 0.025 | ||
| Control type | HC | 0.72(0.52–0.86) | 0.96(0.82–20.99) | 59.26(20.24–173.49) | 0.91 | 60.7% | 0.026 | |
| BD | 0.70(0.63–0.75) | 0.8(0.72–0.87) | 9.45(5.94–15.04) | 0.80 | 79.8% | 0.000 | ||
| ≥100 | 0.62(0.49–0.73) | 0.84(0.75–0.90) | 8.63(5.09–14.65) | 0.81 | 87.6% | 0.000 | ||
| <100 | 0.66(0.55–0.76) | 0.92(0.82–0.97) | 21.93(11.11–43.29) | 0.84 | 0.0% | 0.472 | ||
| Sample source | plasma | 0.65(0.56–0.74) | 0.92(0.87–0.95) | 20.54(11.45–36.84) | 0.87 | 78.6% | 0.000 | |
| serum | 0.71(0.64–0.78) | 0.76(0.66–0.84) | 8.00(5.15–12.43) | 0.79 | 75.9% | 0.000 | ||
| publication | 2000-2010 | 0.75(0.54–0.89) | 0.76(0.65–0.84) | 9.37(4.45–19.77) | 0.81 | 72.3% | 0.000 | |
| 2011-2021 | 0.68(0.62–0.73) | 0.85(0.77–0.91) | 12.45(7.67–20.19) | 0.80 | 85.5% | 0.013 | ||
| Assay methods | Rt-PCR | 0.75(0.56–0.88) | 0.88(0.71–0.95) | 22.69(12.20–42.21) | NA | 0.0% | 0.832 | |
| Other methods | 0.68(0.62–0.73) | 0.83(0.75–0.89) | 10.20(6.33–16.42) | 0.79 | 86.2% | 0.000 |
Notes.
Abbreviations
- ctDNA
- circulating tumor DNA
- HCC
- hepatocellular carcinoma
- 95% CI
- 95% confidence interval
- DOR
- diagnostic odds ratio
- AUC
- area under the curve
- HC
- healthy controls
- BD
- benign live diseases
- MSP
- methylation-specific polymerase chain reaction
- RT-qPCR
- real-time quantitative polymerase chain reaction
- SEN
- sensitivity
- SPE
- specificity