Meta-analysis of the prognostic value of pretreatment serum ferritin in hepatobiliary and pancreas (HBP) cancers

Prognostic role of pretreatment serum ferritin concentration in lung cancer patients: A meta-analysis

BACKGROUND

The association between pretreatment serum ferritin concentration (SFC) and long-term survival in lung cancer remains unclear now.

AIM

To identify the prognostic value of pretreatment SFC in lung cancer patients based on current evidence.

METHODS

The PubMed, EMBASE and Web of Science databases were searched from inception to May 29, 2022 for relevant studies. The primary endpoint was overall survival (OS) and the hazard ratios (HRs) with corresponding 95% confidence intervals (CIs) were combined to assess the predictive role of pretreatment SFC for long-term survival of lung cancer patients. The data were then extracted and assessed on the basis of the Reference Citation Analysis (https://www.referencecitationanalysis.com/).

RESULTS

Twelve retrospective studies involving 1654 patients were analyzed. The results manifested that increased pretreatment SFC was associated with worse OS (HR = 1.09, 95%CI: 1.03-1.15, P = 0.004). Subgroup analysis stratified by the country (China vs non-China) showed similar results. However, subgroup analysis stratified by tumor type revealed inconsistent results (lung cancer: HR = 1.39, P = 0.008; small cell lung cancer: HR = 1.99, P = 0.175; non-small cell lung cancer: HR = 1.03, P = 0.281).

CONCLUSION

Pretreatment SFC might serve as a promising prognostic indicator in lung cancer patients and elevated pretreatment SFC predicts worse prognosis. However, more high-quality studies with big sample sizes are still needed to further verify its prognostic value in lung cancer.

Effect of risperidone on serum IL-6 levels in individuals with schizophrenia: a systematic review and meta-analysis

BACKGROUND

Risperidone has been significant correlated with a direct effect of interleukin-6 (IL-6) levels in patients with schizophrenia. This fact allows the opportunity to link the probable immunomodulatory effect of antipsychotic medication. Specially, a proper functioning of IL-6 pathway plays a potential role in the treatment or development of schizophrenia.

OBJECTIVE

Our primary aim was to perform a systematic review and meta-analysis to determine the effect of risperidone on IL-6 levels in individuals with schizophrenia.

METHODS

Studies were identified through a systematic search using PubMed, Scopus, and Web of Science databases. The articles found were subjected to the inclusion and exclusion criteria; then, the mean and standardised differences were extracted to calculate the standardised mean differences using the CMA software.

RESULTS

IL-6 levels in individuals with schizophrenia were compared before and after receiving risperidone as treatment. Increased levels of IL-6 levels were observed in individuals with schizophrenia who received risperidone (point estimate 0.249, lower limit 0.042, upper limit 0.455, p-value 0.018). In the Asian population sub-analysis, no statistically significant differences were observed (point estimate 0.103, lower limit -0.187, upper limit 0.215, p value 0.890). When we compared individuals with schizophrenia to the control groups, a significant increase of IL-6 levels was observed in the group with schizophrenia (point estimate 0.248, lower limit 0.024, upper limit 0.472, p-value 0.30).

CONCLUSIONS

Risperidone appears to play an important role in IL-6 levels in schizophrenia. Potential implications of increased IL-6 levels in people with schizophrenia should be considered in future studies.KEY POINTSIncreased levels of IL-6 levels were observed in individuals with schizophrenia who received risperidone.Risperidone appears to play an important role in IL-6 levels in schizophrenia.This study could serve for future research focussed on IL-6.

A case-control study in Taiwanese cohort and meta-analysis of serum ferritin in pancreatic cancer

Pancreatic cancer is one of the most lethal diseases which lack an early diagnostic marker. We investigated whether serum ferritin (SF) reflects risk for pancreatic cancer and potential genes that may contribute ferritin and pancreatic cancer risks. We performed a meta-analysis of relevant studies on SF and pancreatic cancer risk by searching articles in PUBMED and EMBASE published up to 1 March 2020. We also collected serum samples from Taipei Medical University Joint Biobank and compared SF levels in 34 healthy controls and 34 pancreatic cancer patients. An Oncomine database was applied as a platform to explore a series of genes that exhibited strong associations between ferritin and pancreatic cancer. Herein, we show that high levels of SF can indicate risk of pancreatic cancer, suggesting SF as the new tumor marker that may be used to help pancreatic cancer diagnosis. We also found that expressions of iron homeostasis genes (MYC, FXN) and ferroptosis genes (ALOX15, CBS, FDFT1, LPCAT3, RPL8, TP53, TTC35) are significantly altered with pancreatic tumor grades, which may contribute to differential expression of ferritin related to pancreatic cancer prognosis.