Prognostic significance of p16 alteration in soft tissue sarcomas: A meta-analysis.

PURPOSE

Numerous studies have investigated the role of p16 alteration in patients with soft tissue sarcomas (STSs) yielding inconsistent and inconclusive results. Hence, we conducted a meta-analysis to precisely assess its prognostic value.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

Electronic literature databases such as PubMed, EMBASE, Web of Science were searched, and five studies with a total of 536 patients were eligible for this meta-analysis. Pooled hazard ratio (HR) with 95% confidence interval (95% CI) of overall survival (OS) was used to assess the prognostic role of p16 alteration.

RESULTS

Overall, the pooled HR for all five eligible studies evaluating decreased p16 expression on OS was 1.47 (95% CI: 1.14-1.90); sensitivity analysis suggested that the pooled HR was stable and omitting a single study did not change the significance of the pooled HR. There is no evidence of publication bias in the meta-analysis.

CONCLUSIONS

In conclusion, this meta-analysis showed that decreased p16 expression is associated with lower OS rate in patients with STS, and it is an effective biomarker of prognosis.