The association between pretreatment serum alkaline phosphatase and prognosis in hepatocellular carcinoma A meta-analysis

Background: Numerous studies have investigated the association between pretreatment serum alkaline phosphatase (ALP) and prognosis in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC), but conclusions remain controversial. Thus, we performed a meta-analysis to assess systematically the relationship between ALP and prognosis in HCC. Methods: We searched the PubMed, EMBASE, and Web of Science databases for eligible studies up to October. A combined hazard ratio (HR) was determined to describe the correlation between pretreatment serum ALP level and prognosis in HCC patients. Overall survival (OS) was calculated from the date of treatment either to the end point of the follow-up period or to the date of death by any cause. Disease-free survival (DFS) and recurrence-free survival (RFS) were defined as the period from the date of treatment to the date of last follow-up or to the date of recurrence. OS was regarded as the major outcome. Results: Altogether, 21 studies about OS and 6 studies about DFS/RFS were included in this meta-analysis. Our combined results showed that there was an inverse association of pretreatment serum ALP level with OS (HR=1.15, 95% CI: 1.12-1.19) and RFS (HR=1.78, 95% CI: 1.37-2.31). Conclusion: There was a close association between high pretreatment ALP level and poor survival in HCC patients, indicating that ALP may be used as a biomarker for prognosis. More high-quality studies are required to validate our findings further, considering the limitations of our meta-analysis.