Expression of B7-H4 and gastric cancer progression and prognosis: a meta-analysis

Background: Gastric cancer (GC) is one of the most common cancers worldwide. Some studies investigated the association between B7-H4 and GC prognosis. However, the results remained inconclusive. Thus, we performed a meta-analysis. Method: A comprehensive online search was conducted on Pubmed, Embase, Web of Science, Wanfan. The data were extracted by these two authors independently. The strength of association was assessed by calculating OR with 95% CI. Results: Six articles with 704 patients were enrolled in the present study. High expression of B7-H4 was associated with a significantly increased risk of undifferentiated GC (OR=1.72; 95% CI, 1.13-2.60; I-2=0%), lymph node metastasis (OR=4.21; 95% CI, 2.63-6.75; I-2=1%), high clinic stage (OR=4.00; 95% CI, 2.30-6.97; I-2=47%), lymphatic invasion (OR=3.18; 95% CI, 1.58-6.38; I-2=55%), venous invasion (OR=2.11; 95% CI, 1.12-3.95; I-2=57%). However, B7-H4 did not associated with high T stage (OR=1.77; 95% CI, 0.85-3.68; I-2=60%). High expression of B7-H4 was associated with a significantly shorter overall survival (OS) of GC (OR=1.63; 95% CI, 1.30-2.03; I-2=0%). Conclusion: This meta-analysis suggested that high B7-H4 expression might be associated with poor prognosis of GC.