BackgroundGastrointestinal cancers (GICs) mainly including esophageal, gastric and colorectal cancer, are the most common cause of cancer-related death and lead into high mortality worldwide. We performed this systematic review and meta-analysis to elucidate relationship between multiple microRNAs (miRs) expression and survival of GIC patients.MethodsWe searched a wide range of database. Fixed-effects and random-effects models were used to calculate the pooled hazard ratio values of overall survival and disease free survival. In addition, funnel plots were used to qualitatively analyze the publication bias and verified by Begg's test while it seems asymmetry.Results60 studies involving a total of 6225 patients (1271 with esophageal cancer, 3467 with gastric cancer and 1517 with colorectal cancer) were included in our meta-analysis. The pooled hazard ratio values of overall survival related to different miRs expression in esophageal, gastric, colorectal and gastrointestinal cancer were 2.10 (1.78-2.49), 2.02 (1.83-2.23), 2.54 (2.14-3.02) and 2.15 (1.99-2.31), respectively. We have identified a total of 59 miRs including 23 significantly up-regulated expression miRs (miR-214, miR-17, miR-20a, miR-200c, miR-107, miR-27a, etc.) and 36 significantly down-regulated expression miRs (miR-433, let-7g, miR-125a-5p, miR-760, miR-206, miR-26a, miR-200b, miR-185, etc.) correlated with poor prognosis in GIC patients. Moreover, 35 of them revealed mechanisms.ConclusionOverall, specific miRs are significantly associated with the prognosis of GIC patients and potentially eligible for the prediction of patients survival. It also provides a potential value for clinical decision-making development and may serve as a promising miR-based target therapy waiting for further elucidation.

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Survival rates for patients with gastric cancer, especially the advanced form, remain poor and the development of targeted treatments is hampered by a lack of efficient biological targets. Poly( rC ) binding protein 2 ( PCBP 2) is an RNA ‐binding protein that contributes to mRNA stabilization, translational silencing and enhancement and it has been implicated as a promoter of gastric cancer growth. In the present study, we demonstrated that the expression level of PCBP 2 was higher in human gastric cancer tissues compared to adjacent normal gastric tissues. A high level of PCBP 2 was correlated with worse postoperative relapse‐free survival and overall survival rates of gastric cancer patients. Small hairpin RNA ‐mediated depletion of PCBP 2 dramatically decreased the viability of gastric cancer cells. Cyclin‐dependent kinase 2 ( CDK 2) was positively regulated by PCBP 2 via a direct 3′ UTR binding pathway as determined using a ribonucleoprotein immunoprecipitation assay and a biotin pulldown assay. CDK 2 mediated the promoting role of PCBP 2. These results suggest that PCBP 2 acts as an oncogene in human gastric cancer cells and that functionally depleting PCBP 2 could be considered as a potential target for gastric cancer therapy.

Background: There are substantial advances in diagnosis and treatment for idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF), but without much evidence available on recent mortality and survival trends.Methods: A narrative synthesis approach was used to investigate the mortality trends, then meta-analyses for survival trends were carried out based on various time periods.Results: Six studies reported the mortality data for IPF in 22 countries, and 62 studies (covering 63 307 patients from 20 countries) reported survival data for IPF. Age-standardised mortality for IPF varied from approximately 0.5 to 12 per 100 000 population per year after year 2000. There were increased mortality trends for IPF in Australia, Brazil, Belgium, Canada, Czech Republic, Finland, France, Germany, Hungary, Italy, Lithuania, Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, and UK, while Austria, Croatia, Denmark, Romania, and US showed decreased mortality trends. The overall 3-year and 5-year cumulative survival rates (CSRs) were 61.8% (95% CI, 58.7–64.9; I2=97.1%) and 45.6% (95% CI, 41.5–49.7; I2=97.7%), respectively. Prior to 2010, the pooled 3-year CSRs was 59.9% (95% CI, 55.8–64.1; I2>95.8%), then not significantly (p=0.067) increased to 66.2% (95% CI, 62.9–69.5; I2=92.6%) in the 2010s decade. After excluding three studies in which no patients received antifibrotics after year 2010, the pooled 3-year CSRs significantly (p=0.039) increased to 67.4% (95% CI, 63.9–70.9; I2=93.1%) in the 2010s decade.Discussion: IPF is a diagnosis associated with high mortality. There was no observed increasing survival trend for patients with IPF before year 2010, with then a switch to an improvement, which is probably multifactorial.