Pathological Diagnosis Center, Zhoushan Hospital, Zhoushan City, Zhejiang Province, China.
Department of Laboratory, Zhoushan Hospital, Zhoushan City, Zhejiang Province, China.
Medicine (Baltimore). 2024 Apr 19;103(16):e37834. doi: 10.1097/MD.0000000000037834.
Evidence from clinical research suggests that the tumor-associated macrophages (TAMs) were associated with prognosis in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). The aim of the present meta-analysis was to conduct a qualitative analysis to explore the prognostic value of CD68 + TAMs in HCC.
This study conducted a systematic search in Pubmed, Embase, the Cochrane Library and China National Knowledge Internet from inception of the databases to November 2023. The hazard ratio (HR) and 95% confidence interval (CI) were calculated employing fixed-effect or random-effect models depending on the heterogeneity of the included trials. The Newcastle-Ottawa Scale was used to evaluate the risk of prejudice.
We analyzed 4362 HCC patients. The present research indicated that the expression levels Of CD68 + TAMs were significantly associated with overall survival (OS) (HR = 1.55, 95% CI: 1.30-1.84) and disease-free survival (DFS) (HR = 1.44, 95% CI: 1.17-1.78). Subgroup analysis based on cutoff values showed that the "Median" subgroup showed a pooled HR of 1.66 with a 95% CI ranging from 1.32 to 2.08, which was slightly higher than the "Others" subgroup that exhibited a pooled HR of 1.40 and a 95% CI of 1.07 to 1.84. The "PT" subgroup had the highest pooled HR of 1.68 (95% CI: 1.19-2.37), indicating a worse OS compared to the "IT" (pooled HR: 1.50, 95% CI: 1.13-2.01) and "Mix" (pooled HR: 1.52, 95% CI: 1.03-2.26) subgroups. Moreover, in the sample size-based analysis, studies with more than 100 samples (>100) exhibited a higher pooled HR of 1.57 (95% CI: 1.28 to 1.93) compared to studies with fewer than 100 samples (<100), which had a pooled HR of 1.45 (95% CI: 1.00-2.10).
The analysis suggests that CD68 + TAMs were significantly associated with unfavorable OS and DFS in HCC patients, and may be served as a promising prognostic biomarker in HCC. However, more large-scale trials are needed to study the clinical value of TAMs in HCC.
临床研究证据表明，肿瘤相关巨噬细胞（TAMs）与肝细胞癌（HCC）的预后相关。本荟萃分析的目的是进行定性分析，以探讨 CD68+TAMs 在 HCC 中的预后价值。
本研究系统检索了 PubMed、Embase、Cochrane 图书馆和中国知网从数据库建立到 2023 年 11 月的文献。根据纳入试验的异质性，采用固定效应或随机效应模型计算风险比（HR）和 95%置信区间（CI）。采用 Newcastle-Ottawa 量表评估偏倚风险。
我们分析了 4362 例 HCC 患者。本研究表明，CD68+TAMs 的表达水平与总生存期（OS）（HR=1.55，95%CI：1.30-1.84）和无病生存期（DFS）（HR=1.44，95%CI：1.17-1.78）显著相关。基于截断值的亚组分析显示，“中位数”亚组的合并 HR 为 1.66，95%CI 范围为 1.32-2.08，略高于“其他”亚组的合并 HR 为 1.40，95%CI 为 1.07-1.84。“PT”亚组的合并 HR 最高为 1.68（95%CI：1.19-2.37），与“IT”（合并 HR：1.50，95%CI：1.13-2.01）和“Mix”（合并 HR：1.52，95%CI：1.03-2.26）亚组相比，OS 更差。此外，在基于样本量的分析中，样本量大于 100 例（>100）的研究的合并 HR 为 1.57（95%CI：1.28-1.93），高于样本量小于 100 例（<100）的研究的合并 HR 为 1.45（95%CI：1.00-2.10）。
分析表明，CD68+TAMs 与 HCC 患者的不良 OS 和 DFS 显著相关，可能是 HCC 有前途的预后生物标志物。然而，需要更多的大规模试验来研究 TAMs 在 HCC 中的临床价值。
