Diagnostic Value of Circulating MicroRNAs for Nasopharyngeal Cancer: a Systematic Review and Meta-analysis

Aim: Circulating microRNAs (miRNA) are a promising diagnostic tool for lung and gastric cancer. However, their diagnostic value in nasopharyngeal cancer remains unknown. Thus, this study aims to systematically evaluate the diagnostic accuracy of circulating miRNA for nasopharyngeal cancer.

Method: Eligible studies were searched and selected from the PubMed, EMBASE, and Cochrane CENTRAL databases. RESULTS from these included studies were pooled using random-effects models. Sensitivity, specificity, positive likelihood ratio (PLR), negative likelihood ratio (NLR), and diagnostic odds ratio (DOR) were calculated to assess the overall performance of miRNA-based assay. Summary receiver operating characteristic (SROC) curves were plotted to evaluate the overall diagnostic accuracy of circulating miRNA detection.

Results: Seven publications were considered eligible for this systematic review, and four studies were finally chosen for this meta-analysis. In the diagnostic meta-analysis, the overall pooled results for sensitivity, specificity, PLR, NLR, and DOR were 0.87 (95% confidence interval [CI]: 0.83-0.90), 0.87 (95% CI: 0.82-0.91), 7.529 (95% CI, 2.575-22.013), 0.145 (95% CI, 0.058-0.363), and 64.045 (95% CI, 10.176-403.10), respectively. The area under SROC curve was 0.95.

Conclusion: Circulating miRNA detection presents an enormous potential in diagnosing nasopharyngeal cancer. Studies with a large sample size of nasopharyngeal cancer patients must be conducted to verify the diagnostic value of circulating miRNA.