Diagnostic value of cancer antigen 72-4 for ovarian cancer: a meta-analysis

Objective: This meta-analysis was aimed to evaluate the diagnostic value of CA72-4 as a biomarker in diagnosing ovarian cancer (OC). Materials and Methods: Relevant studies were retrieved through searching PubMed and Embase, up to June 2016. The pooled sensitivity, specificity, positive likelihood ratio (PLR), negative likelihood ratio (NLR), and diagnostic odds ratio (DOR), as well as corresponding 95% confidence intervals (CIs) were calculated. The summary receiver operating characteristics curve (SROC) was drawn and the area under SROC (AUC) was calculated. Results: A total of 11 relevant literatures with 891 OC cases and 1,623 controls were identified. The overall estimates of CA72-4 are shown as the follows: sensitivity = 0.49 (95% CI: 0.46-0.53), specificity = 0.89 (95% CI: 0.87-0.90, PLR = 4.62, (95% CI: 2.91-7.34), NLR = 0.52 (95% CI: 0.40-0.67), DOR = 9.17 (95% CI = 4.67-18.03), and AUC = 0.8384 +/- 0.1106. Subgroup analyses with four studies (in which 3.8 U/mL was used as cutoff value) showed the slightly higher sensitivity (0.60, 95% CI = 0.54-0.65), specificity (0.93, 95% CI = 0.91-0.94,), PLR (8.27, 95% CI = 6.06-11.27), DOR (20.91, 95% CI = 12.43-35.19), AUC (0.8997 +/- 0.1265), and lower NLR (0.42, 95% CI = 0.33-0.52), compared with that in overall analyses. Conclusions: CA72-4 is a biomarker for diagnosing OC with high specificity but low sensitivity. The most appropriate cutoff value should be further explored in further studies.