Diagnostic and Prognostic Role of miR‐192 in Different Cancers: A Systematic Review and Meta‐Analysis

Introduction . It has been shown that miR‐192 is abnormally expressed in a variety of cancer types and participates in different kinds of signaling pathways. The role of miR‐192 in the diagnosis and prognosis of cancer has not been verified. This article is aimed at exploring the diagnostic and prognostic value of miR‐192 through a systematic review and meta‐analysis. Methods . A systematic search was performed through PubMed, Embase, Web of Science, and Cochrane Library databases up to June 16, 2020. A total of 16 studies were enrolled in the meta‐analyses, of which 11 articles were used for diagnostic meta‐analysis and 5 articles were used for prognostic meta‐analysis. The values of sensitivity and specificity using miR‐192 expression as a diagnostic tool were pooled in the diagnostic meta‐analysis. The hazard ratios (HRs) of overall survival (OS) with 95 confidence intervals (CIs) were extracted from the studies, and pooled HRs were evaluated in the prognostic meta‐analysis. Eleven studies including 667 cancer patients and 514 controls met the eligibility criteria for the diagnostic meta‐analysis. Five studies including 166 patients with high miR‐192 expression and 236 patients with low miR‐192 expression met the eligibility criteria for the prognostic meta‐analysis. Results . The overall diagnostic accuracy was as follows: sensitivity 0.79 (95 % CI = 0.75‐0.82), specificity 0.74 (95 % CI = 0.64‐0.82), positive likelihood ratio 3.03 (95 % CI = 2.11‐4.34), negative likelihood ratio 0.29 (95 % CI = 0.23‐0.37), diagnostic odds ratio 10.50 (95 % CI = 5.89‐18.73), and area under the curve ratio (AUC) 0.82 (95 % CI = 0.78‐0.85). The overall prognostic analysis showed that high expression of miR‐192 in patients was associated with positive survival (HR = 0.62, 95 % CI : 0.41‐0.93, p = 0.020). Conclusion . Our results revealed that miR‐192 was a potential biomarker with good sensitivity and specificity in cancers. Moreover, highly expressed miR‐192 predicted a good prognosis for patients.