Department of Pathology, The Affiliated Southeast Hospital of Xiamen University, Zhangzhou, 363000, Fujian Province, China.
Biobank, The First Affiliated Hospital of Xiamen University, No 55 Zhenhai Road, Xiamen, 361003, Fujian Province, China.
Pathol Oncol Res. 2019 Jul;25(3):849-858. doi: 10.1007/s12253-018-0496-3. Epub 2018 Oct 25.
Vasculogenic mimicry (VM) is a new pattern of blood supplement independent of endothelial vessels, which is related with tumor invasion, metastasis and prognosis. However, the role of VM in the prognosis of cancer patients is controversial. This study aimed to perform a meta-analysis of the published data to attempt to clarify the prognostic value of VM in the digestive cancer. Relevant studies were retrieved from the PubMed, Web of Science, Cochrane Library, Chinese National Knowledge Infrastructure and VIP databases published before March 29, 2018. Studies were included if they detected VM in the digestive cancer and analyzed the overall survival (OS) or disease-free survival (DFS) according to VM status. Two independent reviewers screened the studies, extracted data, and evaluated the quality of included studies with the Newcastle-Ottawa scale. Meta-analysis was performed using STATA 12.0 software. A total of 22 studies with 2411 patients were included in this meta-analysis. Meta-analysis showed that VM was related with the poor OS (HR = 2.30, 95% CI: 2.06-2.56, P < 0.001) and DFS (HR = 2.60, 95% CI: 2.07-3.27, P < 0.001) of patients with digestive cancer. Subgroup analysis showed VM was related with tumor differentiation, lymph node metastasis and TNM stage. Moreover, the present meta-analysis was reliable, and there was no obvious publication bias. This meta-analysis suggested that VM was a poor prognosis of digestive cancer patients. Further large and well-designed studies are required.
脉管生成拟态（VM）是一种独立于内皮血管的新型血液补充模式，与肿瘤的侵袭、转移和预后有关。然而，VM 在癌症患者预后中的作用仍存在争议。本研究旨在对已发表的数据进行荟萃分析，试图阐明 VM 在消化系统癌症预后中的价值。从PubMed、Web of Science、Cochrane Library、中国知网和 VIP 数据库中检索到 2018 年 3 月 29 日前发表的相关研究。纳入的研究检测了消化系统癌症中的 VM，并根据 VM 状态分析了总生存期（OS）或无病生存期（DFS）。两名独立评审员筛选研究、提取数据，并使用纽卡斯尔-渥太华量表评估纳入研究的质量。使用 STATA 12.0 软件进行荟萃分析。本荟萃分析共纳入 22 项研究，共计 2411 例患者。荟萃分析显示，VM 与患者的 OS（HR=2.30，95%CI：2.06-2.56，P<0.001）和 DFS（HR=2.60，95%CI：2.07-3.27，P<0.001）不良相关。亚组分析显示，VM 与肿瘤分化、淋巴结转移和 TNM 分期有关。此外，本荟萃分析结果可靠，不存在明显的发表偏倚。本荟萃分析表明，VM 是消化系统癌症患者预后不良的一个指标。需要进一步开展大样本、设计良好的研究。
