Prognostic and clinicopathologic significance of circZFR in multiple human cancers

Abstract

Abnormally expressed in diverse cancers, circZFR has been correlated with clinical outcomes of cancer patients. Aim of this meta-analysis was to elucidate the prognostic role for circZFR in multiple human malignancies. Literature retrieval was conducted by systematically searching on Pubmed, Web of Science, and Cochrane library up to December 2, 2021. Hazard ratios (HRs) or odds ratios (ORs) with 95% confidence intervals (CIs) were pooled to evaluate the association between circZFR expression and overall survival (OS). The reliability of the pooled results was assessed by sensitivity analysis and the publication bias was measured by Begg’s and Egger’s test. A total of seventeen studies comprising 1098 patients were enrolled in this meta-analysis. Results demonstrated that high circZFR expression was correlated with an unfavorable OS (HR = 2.14, 95%CI: 1.74, 2.64). High circZFR expression predicted larger tumor size (OR = 2.79, 95%CI: 1.52, 5.12), advanced clinical stage (OR = 3.38, 95% CI: 1.49, 7.65), tendentiousness of lymph node metastasis (OR = 3.08, 95% CI: 2.01, 4.71) and malignant grade (OR = 3.18, 95%CI: 1.09, 9.30), but not related to age, gender and distant metastasis (DM). High circZFR expression was associated with unfavorable OS and clinicopathologic parameters including tumor size, clinical stage, LNM and histology grade, implicating a promising prognostic factor in cancers.