Previous studies have assessed the prognostic role of serum carbohydrate antigen 19-9 (CA 19-9) concentration in patients with gastric cancer, but the findings from those studies were inconsistent. We searched the PubMed and Web of Science databases to find eligible studies assessing the prognostic role of CA 19-9 in patients with gastric cancer. Twelve studies with a total of 5,072 gastric cancer patients were finally included into the meta-analysis. The pooled hazard ratio (HR) with corresponding 95 % confidence interval (95 % CI) for overall survival were calculated to assess the prognostic role of CA 19-9 in patients with gastric cancer. Overall, elevated serum concentration of CA 19-9 (>37 U/mL) was associated with poorer overall survival in patients with gastric cancer (fixed-effects HR = 1.36, 95 % CI 1.24-1.48, P < 0.001). Subgroup analysis by study design further showed that elevated serum concentration of CA 19-9 was associated with poorer overall survival in patients with gastric cancer. There was no obvious risk of publication bias. Elevated concentration of serum CA 19-9 is associated with poorer overall survival in patients with gastric cancer.
Controversial results regarding the associations between aldose reductase (AR) genetic polymorphisms and diabetic retinopathy (DR) have been reported for many years. The present meta-analysis was performed to clarify the effects of the AR gene C(-106)T polymorphism on DR risk. The PubMed, Web of Sciences, Cochrane library, EMBASE, Chinese National Knowledge Infrastructure, and Wan Fang databases were extensively searched in Chinese to select relevant studies with an updated date of April 25, 2018. The Newcastle-Ottawa Scale (NOS) was applied to assess quality. The randomeffects model was applied to calculate the pooled OR and 95% CI. This meta-analysis identified 23 studies with an average score of 7.52 for NOS analysis, including 4,313 DR cases and 5,128 diabetes mellitus (DM) control cases. In the overall analysis, a significant association between the AR gene C(-106)T polymorphism and DR susceptibility was found. In subgroups stratified by DM type and ethnicity, significantly increased risks for DR were found in DM type 1, East Asian populations, and Middle Eastern populations. Compared with DR control cases, the following associations were found: T vs. C: OR 0.91, 95% CI 0.85-0.97, I 2 = 72.9%; CT + TT vs. CC: OR 0.75, 95% CI 0.68-0.81, I 2 = 86.7%; and CT vs. CC: OR 0.86, 95% CI 0.78-0.94, I 2 = 70.5%. The results of this meta-analysis showed a significant association between the AR gene C(-106)T polymorphism and susceptibility to DR in DM patients. DM patients with allele T and CT+TT genotype of the AR gene may have a lower risk of DR.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.