Relevant markers of CSCs may serve as prognostic biomarkers of RCC. However, their actual prognostic significance remains inconclusive. Thus, a meta-analysis was performed to reevaluate the association of CSCs-relevant markers (CXCR4, CD133, CD44, CD105) expression with RCC prognosis more precisely.
PubMed and Embase were searched to look for eligible studies. The pooled hazard ratios (HR) with 95% confidence intervals (95% CI) were used to reassess the association of CSCs markers expression and RCC prognosis of overall survival (OS), cancer-specific survival (CSS), disease-free survival (DFS), and progression-free survival (PFS).
There were 25 relevant articles, encompassing 2673 RCC patients, eligible for meta-analysis. Overall pooled analysis suggested that high CSCs markers expression predicted poor OS (HR, 2.10, 95% CI: 1.73-2.55) and DFS (HR, 3.77, 95% CI: 2.30-6.19). High CXCR4 expression predicted worse OS (HR, 2.57, 95% CI: 1.95-3.40), CSS (HR,1.97, 95% CI: 1.50-2.59), and DFS (HR, 5.82, 95% CI: 3.01-11.25). CD44 over-expression correlated with a poor OS(HR,1.58, 95% CI: 1.14-2.18), CSS (HR, 2.58, 95% CI: 1.27-5.23), and DFS (HR, 4.49, 95% CI: 2.12-9.53) in RCC patients. CD133 was an independent favorable prognostic factor for CSS (HR, 0.4, 95% CI: 0.29-0.54).
The presence of CSCs markers correlates with poor RCC outcome. CSCs may be potentially utilized as prognostic markers to stratify RCC patients, probably representing also a novel potential therapeutic target.
Oncotarget. 2016 Aug 29 [Epub ahead of print]
Bo Cheng, Guosheng Yang, Rui Jiang, Yong Cheng, Haifan Yang, Lijun Pei, Xiaofu Qiu
Department of Urology, The Affiliated Hospital of Southwest Medical University, Luzhou 646000, China., Southern Medical University, Guangzhou 510280, China.