Prognostic Value of Long Noncoding RNA NORAD in Various cancers: a meta-analysis

Objective Accumulating studies reported that noncoding RNA activated by DNA damage (NORAD) was correlated with poor survival outcomes for patients in different cancers. However, the effects of NORAD on cancer prognosis were controversial. Therefore, a meta-analysis was carried out to elucidate this issue. Methods Literature search was performed to collect eligible relevant publications until June 2020. The pooled hazard ratios (HRs) or odds ratios (ORs) with 95% confidence intervals (CIs) were calculated to assess the association of NORAD with prognosis and clinical features in diverse cancers. In addition, bioinformatics analysis was also utilized to validate the results of the meta-analysis. Results Fourteen relevant articles involving 867 patients were enrolled in the present study. The pooled results showed that elevated expression of NORAD was a risk factor for overall survival (HR = 1.46, 95% CI: 1.06-2.01, P = 0.020), disease-free survival (HR = 1.74, 95% CI: 1.18-2.57, P = 0.005) and recurrence-free survival. Besides, overexpression of NORAD significantly correlated with lymph node metastasis and T stage. Additionally, bioinformatics analysis further strengthened and complemented the results of the present study. Conclusion Our results showed that NORAD was a risk factor for survival outcomes and clinicopathological parameters in cancer patients. These findings indicated that NORAD may be a promising candidate for prognosis prediction and potential therapeutic target in diverse cancers. ### Competing Interest Statement The authors have declared no competing interest. ### Funding Statement This study was funded by the [Grants from the National Science Foundation of China] under Grant [Nos. 81960664]; [Applied Basic Research Program of Yunnan Province of China] under Grant [No. 2017FB134]. ### Author Declarations I confirm all relevant ethical guidelines have been followed, and any necessary IRB and/or ethics committee approvals have been obtained. Yes The details of the IRB/oversight body that provided approval or exemption for the research described are given below: No ethical approval was required for this analysis because all results and analyses were based on previous ethically-approved studies and this article does not contain any studies with human participants or animals performed by any of the authors. All necessary patient/participant consent has been obtained and the appropriate institutional forms have been archived. Yes I understand that all clinical trials and any other prospective interventional studies must be registered with an ICMJE-approved registry, such as ClinicalTrials.gov. I confirm that any such study reported in the manuscript has been registered and the trial registration ID is provided (note: if posting a prospective study registered retrospectively, please provide a statement in the trial ID field explaining why the study was not registered in advance). Yes I have followed all appropriate research reporting guidelines and uploaded the relevant EQUATOR Network research reporting checklist(s) and other pertinent material as supplementary files, if applicable. Yes No datasets were generated or analyzed during the current study.