Long non-coding RNA PCAT-1 in human cancers: A meta-analysis

Background and aims: Prostate cancer-associated non-coding RNA transcript-1 (PCAT-1), which is a newly discovered long non-coding RNA, is up-regulated in various cancers. We conducted a meta-analysis to assess the clinicopathological and prognostic value of PCAT-1 in patients with malignant tumors. Methods: A systematic literature search involved PubMed, Medline, Cochrane Library, Web of Science, EMBASE database, Ovid, Chinese CNKI, and the Chinese WanFang database. The role of PCAT-1 in cancers was evaluated by pooled odds ratios (ORs) and hazard ratios (HRs) with 95% confidence intervals (CIs). Results: A total of 1005 patients from nine studies were included in this meta-analysis. High expression of PCAT-1 was associated with depth of infiltration, lymph node metastasis, distant metastasis and TNM stage. However, increased PCAT-1 expression was not related to gender, tumor size and differentiation. Moreover, high PCAT-1 expression was associated with poor overall survival (OS) and disease-free survival (DFS), and the pooled results suggested that PCAT-1 expression can be an independent predictive factor for overall survival. Conclusion: This meta-analysis provides evidence that PCAT-1 expression is closely correlated with depth of infiltration, lymph node metastasis, distant metastasis and TNM stage, and that increased PCAT-1 expression may be a potential prognostic biomarker in human cancers. However, more large-scale studies are warranted.