Research Papers:
Prognostic role of STAT3 in solid tumors: a systematic review and metaanalysis
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Pin Wu1,4,*, Dang Wu2,4,*, Lufeng Zhao1, Lijian Huang1, Gang Shen1, Jian Huang3,4, Ying Chai1
1Department of Thoracic Surgery, Second Affiliated Hospital, Zhejiang University School of Medicine, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, 310009, China
2Department of Radiation Oncology, Second Affiliated Hospital, Zhejiang University School of Medicine, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, 310009, China
3Department of Surgical Oncology, Second Affiliated Hospital, Zhejiang University School of Medicine, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, 310009, China
4Cancer Institute, Second Affiliated Hospital, Zhejiang University School of Medicine, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, 310009, China
*These authors contributed equally to this work
Correspondence to:
Ying Chai, e-mail: chaiy@126.com
Pin Wu, e-mail: doctorwp@163.com
Keywords: STAT3, solid tumors, prognosis, overall survival, disease free survival
Received: October 12, 2015 Accepted: February 13, 2016 Published: March 03, 2016
ABSTRACT
Accumulated studies have provided controversial evidences of the association between signal transducer and activator of transcription proteins 3 (STAT3) expression and survival of human solid tumors. To address this inconsistency, we performed a meta-analysis with 63 studies identified from PubMed, Medline and EBSCO. We found STAT3 overexpression was significantly associated with worse 3-year overall survival (OS) (OR = 2.06, 95% CI = 1.57 to 2.71, P < 0.00001) and 5-year OS (OR = 2.00, 95% CI = 1.53 to 2.63, P < 0.00001) of human solid tumors. Similar results were observed when disease free survival (DFS) were analyzed. Subgroup analysis showed that elevated STAT3 expression was associated with poor prognosis of gastric cancer, lung cancer, gliomas, hepatic cancer, osteosarcoma, prostate cancer, pancreatic cancer but better prognosis of breast cancer. The correlation between STAT3 and survival of solid tumors was related to its phosphorylated state. High expression level of STAT3 was also associated with advanced tumor stage. In conclusion, elevated STAT3 expression is associated with poor survival in most solid tumors. STAT3 is a valuable biomarker for prognosis prediction and a promising therapeutic target in human solid tumors.