Prognostic value of Ezrin in solid tumors: a meta-analysis of the literature

Ezrin Immunoexpression in Prostate Adenocarcinomas

Ezrin is a component of cell surface structures, the most important member of the Ezrin/radixin/moesin family. In this study, we aimed to evaluate the expression of ezrin in 50 cases of prostate carcinoma (PA) in relation to the ISUP (International Society of Urological Pathology) groups. Ezrin expression analysis was identified in 78% of the PA cases investigated, with predominantly cytoplasmic staining pattern and variable intensity. Overall, we observed an increase in the intensity of the immunostaining progressively with the decrease in cell differentiation. Statistical analysis indicated the predominance of high FSS in the ISUP 4-5 groups and low FSS in the ISUP 1-2 groups, aspects that were statistically significant. Ezrin was expressed in the majority of PAs analyzed and its expression was associated with ISUP grades, an aspect that suggests involvement in PA progression.

The clinical prognostic significance of ezrin in patients with bone and soft tissue sarcomas: a meta-analysis

Ezrin is a member of the ezrin–radixin–moesin (ERM) protein family and has been shown to be associated with poor prognosis in patients with a variety of solid tumors. However, the clinical prognostic significance of ezrin in patients with bone and soft tissue sarcomas remains unclear. Here, we performed a systematic meta‐analysis by searching PubMed, the Cochrane Library Database, EMBASE, the Web of Science, and the CBM, WanFang Med Online and CNKI databases. In total, 19 studies with a total of 1316 bone and soft tissue sarcoma patients were included. Pooled analyses showed that ezrin overexpression was correlated with a higher rate of tumor metastasis (OR 6.59, 95% CI: 2.84–15.33, P < 0.01, P_FDR < 0.01) and recurrence (OR 3.18, 95% CI: 1.88–5.37, P < 0.01, P_FDR < 0.01) and a more advanced tumor grade (OR 3.252, 95% CI: 1.371–7.715, P = 0.01, P_FDR = 0.03). Moreover, elevated ezrin expression could predict poor OS (HR 3.02, 95% CI: 2.35–3.89, P < 0.01, P_FDR < 0.01), MFS (HR 5.22, 95% CI: 2.08–13.08, P < 0.01, P_FDR < 0.01), and EFS (HR 1.07, 95% CI: 1.03–1.11, P < 0.01, P_FDR < 0.01). Subgroup analyses revealed the underlying sources of heterogeneity. Publication bias was observed in the analysis of metastasis. Sensitivity analysis revealed that the results were robust. Our findings indicated that ezrin overexpression was significantly correlated with poor survival and more advanced tumor progression in bone and soft tissue sarcomas, which suggests that ezrin might be a valuable prognostic biomarker and a potential therapeutic target.

The Prognostic Value of Nanog Overexpression in Lung Cancer: A Meta-Analysis

BACKGROUND

Recent several studies have showed that the nanog overexpression leads to poor prognosis in some kinds of cancer including hepatocellular carcinoma and gastrointestinal luminal cancer. However, the correlations between prognosis and clinic-pathological features and nanog overexpression in lung cancer are still not well-known. Thus, we performed a meta-analysis to evaluate the role of nanog in lung cancer.

METHODS

An electronic retrieval for related studies was conducted in PubMed, Cochrane Library, Web of Science, EMBASE databases, Chinese CNKI, and the Chinese Wan Fang database up to May 2018. The relationships between nanog overexpression and overall survival (OS) and disease-free survival (DFS) as well as clinic-pathological features in lung cancer were investigated. Pooled hazard ratios (HRs) and odds ratios (ORs) with 95% confidence intervals (CIs) were calculated by STATA12.

RESULTS

11 studies containing 1422 patients were identified in our meta-analysis. The overexpression of nanog showed decreased OS (HR = 1.83, 95% CI = 1.49-2.25, P ≤ 0.001) and DFS (HR = 1.86, 95% CI = 1.2-2.9, P = 0.006). Moreover, overexpression of nanog was significantly related to differentiation (OR = 4.17, 95% CI = 2.17-6.43, P ≤ 0.001), lymph node metastasis (OR = 1.76, 95% CI = 1.06-2.91, P = 0.028) and tumor size (OR = 1.93, 95% CI = 1.17-3.20, P = 0.010), and no correlation with T stage, TNM, stage, and gender.

CONCLUSIONS

Our results suggested that nanog overexpression, a hazard factor of differentiation, lymph node metastasis, and tumor size, may predicate decreased OS and DFS for lung cancer.

Immunohistochemical Expression Of Ezrin In Oral Potentially Malignant Disorders-A Descriptive Study

Introduction:

Ezrin, also known as cytovillin, is a member of the ERM family of protein. Ezrin cross-links actin filament with the plasma membrane. They are involved in the formation of microvilli, cell–cell adhesion, maintenance of cell shape, cell motility, and membrane trafficking. Recent analysis reveals their involvement in signaling pathways. Ezrin is highly expressed in several types of human cancers, and correlation between its immunoreactivity and histopathological data as well as the patient outcome has previously been studied.

Objective:

The objective of the study was to analyze the immunohistochemical expression pattern of ezrin in oral potentially malignant disorders (OPMDs), namely, oral submucous fibrosis (OSMF) with different grades and clinically leucoplakia (hyperkeratosis with various degree of dysplasia) and its use as a predictive marker for malignant transformation.

Subjects and Methods:

Sample size n = 43, histopathologically confirmed cases of OPMDs (13 cases of OSMF with different grades and 30 cases of clinically leukoplakia) were retrieved from the Department of Oral and Maxillofacial Pathology. Immunohistochemistry was done using anti-ezrin antibody, and the expression was graded in terms of proportion and intensity.

Results:

There was a significant expression of ezrin in OPMDs, and its cytoplasmic shift can be used as a predictive marker for malignant transformation.

Conclusion:

The findings of the current study revealed that the expression of ezrin in OPMDs may be related to the progression of the disease.

The Prognostic Value of Decreased LKB1 in Solid Tumors: A Meta-Analysis

Background

Liver kinase B1 (LKB1) is a protein kinase that regulates the growth, integrity and polarity of mammalian cells. Recent studies have reported the prognostic value of decreased LKB1 expression in different tumors. However, the results of these studies remain controversial. Therefore, this meta-analysis was performed to more accurately estimate the role of decreased LKB1 in the prognostication of human solid tumors.

Methods

A systematic literature search in the electronic databases PubMed, Embase, Web of Science and CNKI (updated to October 15, 2015) was performed to identify eligible studies. The overall survival (OS), relapse-free survival (RFS), disease-free survival (DFS) and clinicopathological features data were collected from these studies. The hazard ratios (HRs), odds ratios (ORs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) were calculated and pooled with a random-effects models using Stata12.0 software.

Results

A total of 14 studies covering 1915 patients with solid tumors were included in this meta-analysis. Decreased LKB1 was associated with poorer OS in both the univariate (HR: 1.86, 95%CI: 1.42–2.42, P<0.001) and multivariate (HR: 1.55, 95%CI: 1.09–2.21, P = 0.015) analyses. A subgroup analysis revealed that the associations between decreased LKB1 and poor OS were significant within the Asian region (HR 2.18, 95%CI: 1.66–2.86, P<0.001) and obvious for lung cancer (HR: 2.16, 95%CI: 1.47–3.18, P<0.001). However, the articles that involved analyses of both RFS and DFS numbered only 3, and no statistically significant correlations of decreased LKB1 with RFS or DFS were observed in this study. Additionally, the pooled odds ratios (ORs) indicated that decreased LKB1 was associated with larger tumor size (OR: 1.60, 95%CI: 1.09–2.36, P = 0.017), lymph node metastasis (OR: 2.41, 95%CI: 1.53–3.78, P<0.001) and a higher TNM stage (OR: 3.35, 95%CI: 2.20–5.09, P<0.001).

Conclusion

These results suggest that decreased LKB1 expression in patients with solid tumors might be related to poor prognosis and serve as a potential predictive marker of poor clinicopathological prognostic factors. Additional studies are required to verify the clinical utility of decreased LKB1 in solid tumors.

Prognostic Value of Ezrin in Various Cancers: A Systematic Review and Updated Meta-analysis

More and more studies have investigated the effects of Ezrin expression level on the prognostic role in various tumors. However, the results remain controversial rather than conclusive. Here, we performed a systematic review and meta-analysis to evaluate the correlation of Ezrin expression with the prognosis in various tumors. the pooled hazard ratios (HR) with the corresponding 95% confidence intervals (95% CI) were calculated to evaluate the degree of the association. The overall results of fifty-five studies with 6675 patients showed that elevated Ezrin expression was associated with a worse prognosis in patients with cancers, with the pooled HRs of 1.86 (95% CI: 1.51–2.31, P < 0.001) for over survival (OS), 2.55 (95% CI: 2.14–3.05, P < 0.001) for disease-specific survival (DFS) and 2.02 (95% CI: 1.13–3.63, P = 0.018) for disease-specific survival (DSS)/metastasis-free survival (MFS) by the random, fixed and random effect model respectively. Similar results were also observed in the stratified analyses by tumor types, ethnicity background and sample source. This meta-analysis suggests that Ezrin may be a potential prognostic marker in cancer patients. High Ezrin is associated with a poor prognosis in a variety of solid tumors.

Prognostic value of tumor-infiltrating FoxP3+ T cells in gastrointestinal cancers: a meta analysis

Purpose

Tumor-infiltrating FoxP3⁺ T cells have been reported in various human tumors, which impaired cell-mediated immunity and promoted disease progression. However, its prognostic value for survival in patients with different gastrointestinal cancers [hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC), colorectal cancer (CRC), gastric cancer (GC)] remains controversial.

Methods

Relevant literature was searched using PubMed, Embase, Cochrane, Ovid Medline and Chinese wanfang databases. A meta-analysis was conducted to estimate pooled survival and recurrence ratios. The odds ratio (OR) and 95% confidence intervals (CI) were calculated employing fixed- or random-effects models depending on the heterogeneity of the included trials.

Results

For HCC and GC, the overall survival at 1, 3 and 5-year of high FoxP3⁺ T cells infiltration patients were lower than low FoxP3⁺ T cells infiltration patients (P<0.05). The recurrences at 1, 3 and 5-year of high FoxP3⁺ T cells infiltration patients were higher than low FoxP3⁺ T cells infiltration patients (P<0.001). But for CRC, the overall survival at 1, 3 and 5-year of high FoxP3⁺ T cells infiltration patients were higher than low FoxP3⁺ T cells infiltration patients (P<0.001). There were no differences in 1, 3 and 5-year recurrences between high and low FoxP3⁺ T cells infiltration patients (P>0.05).

Conclusions

Our findings suggested that tumor-infiltrating FoxP3⁺ T cells were a factor for a poor prognosis for HCC and GC, but a good prognosis for CRC.