Background: Several studies have explored the prognostic value of MicroRNA-153 (miR-153) in various cancers, but obtained inconsistent results. Thus, we conducted a meta-analysis to assess the prognostic significance of miR-153 for patients with cancer. Methods: Eligible studies were identified by searching the online databases Pubmed, Embase, Web of Science, Medline,and the China National Knowledge Infrastructure (CNKI) up to March 2020. Hazard ratios (HRs) with 95% CIs and were calculated to clarify the correlation between miR-153 expression and prognosis of different cancers. Odds ratios (ORs) with 95% CI were selected to appraise the correlation between miR-153 with clinicopathological characteristics of cancer patients. Results: In total, 933 patients from 11 articles were enrolled in our meta-analysis. The results revealed that low miR-153 expression was significantly correlated with poor overall survival (OS) (HR = 2.45, 95% CI = 1.66–3.63, P < .001), but not with disease-free survival (DFS) (HR = 1.67, 95% CI = 0.45–6.19, P = .442). Subgroup analysis found that low miR-153 expression was associated with worse OS in the reported directly from articles group (HR = 2.67, 95% CI: 1.32–5.37, P = .006), survival curves group (HR = 2.10, 95% CI: 1.56–2.84, P < .001), digestive system tumor (HR = 2.76, 95% CI: 1.73–4.41, P < .001), and breast cancer (HR = 4.01, 95% CI: 1.46–11.04, P = .007). Moreover, cancer patients with low miR-153 expression were prone to poor tumor differentiation(poor vs well+moderate, OR = 2.41, 95% CI = 1.52–3.82, P < .001), earlier lymph node metastasis (present vs absent, OR = 2.19, 95% CI = 1.12–4.25, P = .021) and earlier distant metastasis (present vs absent,OR = 8.24, 95% CI = 2.93–23.21, P < .001), but not associated with age,gender and TNM stage. Conclusions: This meta-analysis indicated that low miR-153 expression is associated with poor prognosis. miR-153 may serve as an effective predictive biomarker for tumor prognosis, especially for digestive system tumor and breast cancer.

Introduction: MiR-638 is believed to be involved in human cancers. However, the prognostic value of miR-638 in human carcinomas is controversial and inconclusive. Therefore, we conducted this meta-analysis to investigate the association between miR-638 expression and clinical outcomes in the patients with various cancers. Methods: We searched Pubmed, Embase, Wanfang, and the China National Knowledge Infrastructure (CNKI) up to September 1, 2020 to identify relevant studies. Hazard ratios (HRs) and odds ratios (ORs) with 95% confidence intervals (CIs) were used to correlate expression of miR-638 with prognosis and clinicopathological features. Results: A total of 18 studies involving 1886 patients were included in the meta-analysis. The results revealed that low miR-638 expression was significantly correlated with poor overall survival (OS) (HR = 2.09, 95% CI: 1.46–2.98, P < .001), but not with disease-free survival (DFS) (HR = 1.71, 95% CI: 0.31–9.56, P = .540). Subgroup analysis found that low miR-638 expression was associated with worse OS in patients with digestive system cancer (HR = 2.47, 95% CI: 1.85–3.30, P < .001), the reported directly from articles group (HR = 2.12, 95% CI: 1.34–3.33, P < .001), survival curves group (HR = 2.02, 95% CI: 1.07–3.80, P = .029), in studies with sample size ≥100 (HR = 2.12, 95% CI: 1.34–3.35, P = .001), and in studies with sample size <100 (HR = 2.02, 95%CI: 1.09–3.75, P = .025). Moreover, cancer patients with low miR-638 expression were prone to tumor size (OR = 1.47, 95% CI: 1.03–2.09, P = .035), earlier lymph node metastasis (present vs absent, OR = 2.26, 95% CI: 1.63–3.14, P < .001), earlier distant metastasis (present vs absent, OR = 2.60, 95% CI: 1.45–4.67, P < .001), TNM stage (III-IV vs I-II, OR = 2.01, 95% CI: 1.35–2.99, P = .001), and portal vein invasion (present vs absent, OR = 4.39, 95% CI:2.23–8.64, P < .001), but not associated with age, gender, tumor differentiation, and vascular invasion. Conclusions: MiR-638 may serve as a promising indicator in the prediction of prognosis and clinicopathological features in patients with different kinds of cancers.