Role of metastasis-associated protein 1 in prognosis of patients with digestive tract cancers: A meta-analysis

ObjectivesMetastasis-associated protein 1 (MTA1) is a transcriptional regulator and significantly associated with prognosis of patients with cancer. However, its role as a potential prognostic marker in digestive tract cancer (DTC) is controversial. In this study, a meta-analysis was conducted to evaluate the MTA1 expression as a predictor of clinicopathology and survival of patients with DTC.MethodsWe searched PubMed, Ovid, Web of Science and Cochrane databases using multiple search strategies for eligible studies. STATA 11.0 software was used to pool the data and analyze the association, odds ratios (ORs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) were used to measure the strength of the association. Furthermore, the Newcastle-Ottawa scale was used to evaluate the quality of eligible studies.ResultsMTA1 overexpression was strongly associated with depth of invasion (OR = 1.88, 95%CI: 1.05–3.37, P = 0.03), lymph node metastasis (OR = 2.30, 95%CI: 1.76–3.01, PPPP = 0.008), 3- (RR = 1.74, 95%CI: 1.32–2.30, P0.001) and 5-year (RR = 1.64, 95%CI: 1.18–2.27, P = 0.003) OS. Further, MTA1 was associated with 1- (RR = 4.16, 95%CI: 1.35–12.81, P = 0.01), 3- (RR = 1.90, 95%CI: 1.02–3.53, P = 0.04) and 5- (RR = 2.17, 95%CI: 1.41–3.32, PConclusionsMTA1 expression is strongly correlated with metastasis-related variables, and represents a promising prognostic factor in DTC.