Prognostic Significance Of Golgi Protein 73 In Hepatocellular Carcinoma After Hepatectomy In The Chinese Population: A Meta-Analysis

The Golgi protein 73 (GP73) has been shown to play an important role in tumor initiation and progression in multiple cancers. However, its prognostic value, specifically in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) patients treated with hepatectomy, remains controversial. Thus, in this meta-analysis study, we have tried to determine if GP73 overexpression has any prognostic value for Chinese HCC patients. In order to investigate this relationship, we have evaluated GP73 association with overall survival (OS), disease-free survival (DFS), tumor invasion and other invasion-related clinicopathological features, based on the information derived from eight different studies that included data of 1187 HCC patients. These studies were identified by searching Embase, PubMed, Web of Science and Cochrane Library databases, until Oct 1, 2015. The hazard ratio (HR) or odds ratio (OR) with corresponding 95% confidence intervals (95% CIs) were calculated from these studies using random-effects model. Our results from the meta-analysis revealed that higher GP73 expression correlated with poor OS [HR 1.958, 95% CI 1.548 to 2.368, I-2= 0.0%] and DFS [HR 1.775, 95% CI 1.416 to 2.133, I-2= 0.0%] of HCC patients. The aberrant GP73 expression also correlated with tumor invasion [OR 1.286, 95% CI 0.618 to 2.679, I2= 82.7%], advanced TNM stage [OR 10.084, 95% CI 1.884 to 53.976, I-2= 93.0%] and advanced tumor grade [OR 7.912, 95% CI 5.492 to 11.399, I-=(2) 26.0%]. Overall, these findings led us to conclude that GP73 overexpression indicate a poor clinical outcome in HCC patients after hepatectomy and may have a predictive value for HCC invasion and metastasis.