LncRNA HOTAIR Overexpression Predicts Poor Prognosis In Patients With Cancer: A Meta-analysis

Background HOX transcript antisense intergenic RNA(HOTAIR)is overexpressed in cancer patients,but its clinical relevance is not well established.The present study was designed to analyze the potential of long non-coding RNA(lncRNA)HOTAIR as a prognostic biomarker for various human cancers.Methods A meta-analysis was carried out,based on the literature reporting HOTAIR expression in various cancers from Pub Med,Embase,Cochrane Library,and Web of Science,published before December 30,2015.Newcastle-Ottawa Scale(NOS)was used to evaluate the quality of included studies.Hazard ratios(HRs)and corresponding 95 % confidence intervals(CIs)were used to assess the strength of association.Pooling estimates of the hazard ratios(HRs)were computed through the Review Manager 5.3 software.Heterogeneity of HRs was also assessed and subgroup and sensitivity analyses were performed to identify the source of heterogeneity.The bias of this meta-analysis was evaluated by funnel plotting.Results 28 eligible studies were included in this meta-analysis.There was a significant association between HOTAIR overexpression and poor overall survival of patients with cancer,with pooled HR of 2.15(95%CI: 1.58-2.92,P < 0.00001).Subgroup analyses indicated that tumor type,region,sample size,specimen type,the method of HRs extraction,and analytical approach did not alter the predictive value of HOTAIR for overall survival.Similar results were obtained from the analyses of metastasis-free survival(HR=2.20,95%CI=1.15,4.20 and recurrence-free survival(HR=4.28,95%CI=2.74-6.68).Conclusion lncRNA HOTAIR is a candidate prognostic biomarker for predicting survival of patients with cancer.