BackgroundThe prognostic value and clinicopathologic significance of Ki-67 expression in gastric cancer patients was controversial. This meta-analysis was performed to clarify the prognostic value and clinicopathologic significance of Ki-67 expression in gastric cancer patients.Materials and MethodsSeveral electronic databases were searched for eligible studies. The pooled odds ratio (OR), hazard ratios (HR) and 95% confidence interval(CI) were calculated to explore the prognostic value and clinicopathologic significance of Ki-67 expression for disease free survival and overall survival.ResultsTotally 5600 gastric cancer patients from 29 studies were included in this study. High Ki-67 expression was significantly related with Lauren's classification (OR = 1.70; P = 0.001; 95%CI: 1.40-2.06) and tumor size(OR = 1.54; P = 0.006; 95%CI: 1.14-2.09). However, high Ki-67 expression was not significantly associated with lymph node metastasis (OR = 1.37; P = 0.138; 95% CI: 0.90-2.08), tumor stage (OR = 1.31; P = 0.296; 95% CI: 0.79-2.16) and tumor differentiation (OR = 1.03; P = 0.839; 95% CI: 0.78-1.35). The pooled HRs were 1.87(P = 0.001; 95% CI 1.30-2.69) for disease free survival and 1.23(P = 0.005; 95% CI 1.06-1.42) for overall survival.ConclusionsHigh Ki-67 expression may serve as a predictive biomarker for poor prognosis in gastric cancer patients. Stratification by Ki-67 expression may be a consideration for selection of therapeutic regimen and integrated managements.

BackgroundThe prognostic significance of vascular endothelial growth factor C (VEGF-C) expression in breast cancer (BC) patients remains controversial. Therefore, this meta-analysis was performed to determine the prognostic significance of VEGF-C expression in BC patients.Materials and MethodsSeveral electronic databases were searched from January 1991 to August 2016. The pooled hazard ratios (HRs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) were calculated to evaluate the prognostic significance of VEGF-C expression for disease free survival (DFS) and overall survival (OS).ResultsThe present meta analysis totally included 21 eligible studies and 2828 patients with BC. The combined HRs were 1.87(95% CI 1.25–2.79, P = 0.001) for DFS and 1.96(95% CI 1.15–3.31, P = 0.001) for OS. The pooled HRs of non-Asian subgroup were 2.04(95%CI 1.36–3.05, P = 0.001) for DFS and 2.61(95%CI 1.51–4.52, P = 0.001) for OS, which were significantly higher than that of Asian subgroup. The funnel plot for publication bias was symmetrical. The further Egger's test and Begg's test did not detect significant publication bias (all P>0.05).ConclusionsThe present meta analysis strongly supported the prognostic role of VEGF-C expression for DFS and OS in BC patients, especially for patients in non-Asian countries. Furthermore, stratification by VEGF-C expression may help to optimize the treatments and the integrated managements for BC patients.

PurposeThe aim of this update meta-analysis was to clarify the clinicopathologic and prognostic significance of human epidermal growth factor receptor(EGFR) expression in gastric cancer patients.Experimental DesignSeveral electronic databases were searched from January 1970 to May 2016. The odds ratio (OR) was calculated to assess the association between EGFR expression and pathological parameters. The hazard ratio (HR) and 95% CI were calculated to explore the relationship between EGFR expression and overall survival.ResultsFinally 7229 patients with gastric cancer from 25 eligible studies were included in the present meta analysis. High EGFR expression was found to be significantly related with tumor differentiation (OR=1.96, 95%CI: 1.14-3.34, Z=2.43, P=0.015), lymph node metastasis (OR=2.20, 95% CI: 1.63-2.96, Z=5.17, P=0.001), and tumor stage (OR=2.13, 95% CI: 1.35-3.36, Z=3.25, P=0.001). However, high EGFR expression was not significantly associated with invasion depth (OR=2.09, 95% CI: 0.4-11.05, Z=0.87, P=0.385). The pooled HR suggested that high EGFR expression was significantly correlated with overall survival (HR=1.19, 95% CI 1.04-1.37, Z=2.44, P=0.015).ConclusionsThe present meta-analysis demonstrated that high EGFR expression significantly predicts poor prognosis, suggesting that high EGFR expression may serve as a predictive biomarker for poor prognosis in patients with gastric cancer.

Herein, we have developed a method for the facile aqueous synthesis of ligand-free cesium lead halide perovskite nanoplatelets with pure CsPb2Br5. The ligand-free CsPb2Br5 nanoplatelets showed good environmental stability, green...