BACKGROUND

It has been reported that microRNAs might serve as biomarkers for cholangiocarcinoma (CCA) detection, but their diagnostic accuracy are unclear and controversial.

AIM

To evaluate the diagnostic accuracy of microRNAs for CCA.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

PubMed, Embase, Web of Science and Cochrane Library were systematically searched to identify relevant articles by using the key words "cholangiocarcinoma" and "microRNA". The methodological quality of each study was assessed by QUADAS-2. According to the inclusive and exclusive criteria, 11 articles were identified and analyzed by Meta-disc software v.1.4 and STATA 12.0 software package.

RESULTS

11 articles with 430 CCA patients and 406 controls were identified. The results showed that the pooled sensitivity was 0.756 (95% CI: 0.693-0.810), specificity was 0.914 (95% CI: 0.861-0.947), positive likelihood ratio was 8.747 (95% CI: 5.320-14.381), negative likelihood ratio was 0.267 (95% CI: 0.208-0.341) and diagnostic odds ratio was 32.791 (95% CI: 17.327, 62.060). In addition, the area under the summary ROC cure (AUC) was 0.90 (95% CI: 0.87-0.93).

CONCLUSION

MicroRNAs have great potential as biomarkers for the diagnosis of CCA patients. However, the clinical application of microRNA assays for CCA diagnosis still needs further validation by more prospective studies.