INK4a Prognostic significance of p16alteration in soft tissue sarcomas: A meta-analysis.

PURPOSE: INK4a Numerous studies have investigated the role of p16alteration 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: INK4a 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 p16alteration.

RESULTS: INK4a Overall, the pooled HR for all five eligible studies evaluating decreased p16expression 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: INK4a In conclusion, this meta-analysis showed that decreased p16expression is associated with lower OS rate in patients with STS, and it is an effective biomarker of prognosis.