Diagnostic performance of urine and blood microRNAs for bladder cancer: a meta-analysis

ABSTRACT

Objective

To compare and assess the diagnostic value of urine and blood microRNAs(miRNAs) in discriminating bladder cancer (BCa).

Methods

A total of 45 articles were selected, which included 4050 BCa cases and 3490 controls. Summary receiver operating characteristic (SROC) curve analyses were performed, an area under curve (AUC) was calculated and pooled accuracy was analyzed using Stata 16.0 software.

Results

The AUC, sensitivity, and specificity for urinary miRNAs were 0.88, 0.82, and 0.81, respectively, those for blood miRNAs were 0.91, 0.86, and 0.82. For miR-143, the AUC was 0.88, with 0.79 sensitivity and 0.87 specificity. The results of subgroup analyses and meta-regression suggested the publication year, ethnicity, sample size, miRNAs type, and specimen type were possible sources of heterogeneity. The Deeks funnel plot indicated there was no significant publication bias.

Conclusion

Urine and blood-based miRNAs may potentially be promising biomarkers for noninvasive early detection of bladder tumor. The diagnostic accuracy of blood-based miRNAs would be better than those of urine-based ones, and multiple miRNA panels yielded more accurate results than single-miRNA assay. Besides, miR-143 is a promising candidate biomarker for diagnosing BCa. More prospective and standardized studies are required to confirm the future findings.

KEYWORDS:

• MicroRNAs
• bladder cancer
• diagnosis
• meta-analysis

Declaration of interest

The authors have no relevant affiliations or financial involvement with any organization or entity with a financial interest in or financial conflict with the subject matter or materials discussed in the manuscript. This includes employment, consultancies, honoraria, stock ownership or options, expert testimony, grants or patents received or pending, or royalties.

Reviewer disclosures

Peer reviewers on this manuscript have no relevant financial or other relationships to disclose.

Additional information

Funding

The author(s) reported there is no funding associated with the work featured in this article.