Advancing gastrointestinal cancer diagnostics: a systematic review and meta-analysis of circulating microRNA-1246 as a non-invasive biomarker

Abstract

Background

Despite numerous reports on the alterations of microRNA-1246 (miR-1246) expression level in digestive system cancers, its role in gastrointestinal cancers (GICs) remains unclear. This meta-analysis aimed to assess the diagnostic potential of circulating miR-1246 in GICs.

Methods

Meta-disc version 1.4 and Comprehensive Meta-Analysis (CMA) version 3.7 software were used to calculate pooled sensitivity, specificity, likelihood ratios, diagnostic odds ratio (DOR), area under the curve (AUC), Q*index and summary receiver-operating characteristic (SROC). Subgroup analyses were conducted for cancer type, sample type and geographical region. Publication bias was assessed using Begg’s and Egger’s tests.

Results

A total of 14 articles involving 18 studies and 1526 participants (972 cases and 554 controls) were included. The diagnostic accuracy of miRNA-1246 in GICs was as follows: pooled sensitivity: 0.81 (95% CI: 0.79 − 0.83), specificity: 0.74 (95% CI: 0.71 − 0.77), PLR: 3.315 (95% CI: 2.33 − 4.72), NLR: 0.221 (95% CI: 0.153 − 0.319), DOR: 16.87 (95% CI: 9.45 − 30.09), AUC: 0.891, and Q*-index: 0.807. No publication bias was found based on Begg’s (p = 0.172) and Egger’s (p = 0.113) tests.

Conclusion

Circulating miR-1246 shows promise as a non-invasive biomarker for early detection of GICs.

Keywords:

• Circulating miRNA-1246
• gastrointestinal cancers
• digestive cancers
• diagnostic biomarker
• meta-analysis

Ethical approval

The study described has not involved experimentation on animals or humans.

Informed consent

This publication does not involve volunteers or patients.

CRediT author statement

Conceptualization: A.H. Aalami; Data curation: A.H Aalami; Formal Analysis: A.H Aalami; Investigation: A.H Aalami; Methodology: A.H Aalami, A. Shahriari, M. Mazaheri, A. Sahebkar; Project administration: A.H. Aalami and A. Sahebkar; Software: A.H Aalami; Supervision: A.H. Aalami and A. Sahebkar; Visualization: A.H Aalami; Writing – original draft: F. Aalami, A. Shahriari, M. Mazaheri; Writing – review & editing: F. Aalami and A. Sahebkar. All named authors meet the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE) criteria for authorship for this article, take responsibility for the integrity of the work as a whole, and have given their approval for this version to be published.

Disclosure statement

The authors have no relevant financial or non-financial interests to disclose.

Data availability statement

Data associated with this study can be accessed from the first author upon a reasonable request.

Additional information

Funding

This research did not receive any specific grant from funding agencies in the public, commercial or not-for-profit sectors.