Clinical significance of neutrophil gelatinase-associated lipocalin (NGAL) in colorectal cancer: a meta-analysis

Abstract

ABSTRACT. Growing evidence has implicated that neutrophil gelatinase-associated lipocalin (NGAL) plays a role in a spectrum of human cancers. Several observational studies from different parts of the world have been devoted to elucidate the clinical relationship between NGAL and colorectal cancer. This meta-analysis aimed to explore the overall accuracy of NGAL detection for the diagnosis and prognosis of colorectal cancer. Based on comprehensive literature screening on Pubmed, Ovid, and CNKI databases, our screening covered all published papers until March 2013. The relevant papers were selected according to some stringent inclusion criteria. Essential data were extracted from the recruited papers and further processed by systematic meta-analysis. The meta-analysis included 5 studies for diagnosis of colorectal cancer. Overall, the pooled sensitivity and specificity of all studies were 73% (95%CI = 0.69-0.76) and 89% (95%CI = 0.85-0.93). The pooled positive likelihood ratio and negative likelihood ratio were 5.41 (95%CI = 3.85-7.59) and 0.37 (95%CI = 0.22-0.62). The pooled diagnostic odds ratios was 18.05 (95%CI = 11.77-27.69). The area under the summary receiver operating characteristic curve for the diagnosis of colorectal cancer was 0.87. Meanwhile, 3 studies were included to evaluate the prognostic significance of NGAL overexpression in colorectal cancer patients. The pooled hazard ratio was 2.12 (95%CI = 1.35-3.33). High level of NGAL predicted poor disease-free survival. Thus, NGAL is a potential biomarker for the diagnosis and prognosis of colorectal cancer.

Hepatocyte-Derived Lipocalin 2 Is a Potential Serum Biomarker Reflecting Tumor Burden in Hepatoblastoma

“…Recent studies have found that serum and urine LCN2 concentrations may have diagnostic and prognostic utility in colorectal, pancreatic, and thyroid cancer. 20,43,44 Future studies using patient serum samples will be important to assess LCN2 expression and whether LCN2 can be used in conjunction with a-fetoprotein to aid in the diagnosis, surveillance, prognosis, and even therapeutic response of HB. Serum and urine LCN2 levels are also elevated in a variety of liver diseases, mirroring the progression of inflammatory and oxidative damage to the liver.…”

Can NGAL be Employed as Prognostic and Diagnostic Biomarker in Human Cancers? A Systematic Review of Current Evidence

“…NGAL has been found to be up-regulated in some types of cancer and to be down-regulated in others; thanks to the possibility of being detected both in blood and in urine, researchers have started focusing on NGAL as a novel noninvasive biomarker for cancer. Two previous systematic reviews (53,54) explored the overall accuracy of NGAL detection for the diagnosis and prognosis of breast and colorectal cancers. The authors reported a relationship between the up-regulation of NGAL and both types of cancer, suggesting NGAL as a potential diagnostic and prognostic biomarker, nevertheless its role needs to be further investigated.…”

Expression of PAX8 Target Genes in Papillary Thyroid Carcinoma

“…LCN2 encodes lipocalin 2 or neutrophil gelatinase associated lipocalin ( NGAL ), a secreted 25-kDa protein that binds iron [ 25 ] and is overexpressed in various epithelial cancers [ 26 ]. Several findings indicate that LCN2 overexpression is associated with tumor size, stage, and invasiveness [ 27 ], and it has been proposed as a negative prognostic indicator in several types of cancer [ 28 , 29 ]. We found that LCN2 mRNA levels were markedly higher in PTCs than in NTs, and immunostaining for LCN2 protein was positive in several tumors but in none of the NT samples.…”