Prognostic and clinicopathological role of RACK1 for cancer patients: a systematic review and meta-analysis

Abstract

Background The receptor for activated C kinase 1 (RACK1) expression is associated with clinicopathological characteristics and the prognosis of various cancers; however, the conclusions are controversial. As a result, this study aimed to explore the clinicopathological and prognostic values of RACK1 expression in patients with cancer. Methodology PubMed, Embase, Web of Science, Cochrane Library, and Scopus were comprehensively explored from their inception to April 20, 2023, for selecting studies on the clinicopathological and prognostic role of RACK1 in patients with cancer that met the criteria for inclusion in this review. Pooled hazard ratios (HRs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) were used to assess the prognosis-predictive value of RACK1 expression, while pooled odds ratios (ORs) and 95% CIs were used to evaluate the correlation between RACK1 expression and the clinicopathological characteristics of patients with cancer. The quality of the included studies was evaluated using the Newcastle-Ottawa Scale. Results Twenty-two studies (13 on prognosis and 20 on clinicopathological characteristics) were included in this systematic review and meta-analysis. The findings indicated that high RACK1 expression was significantly associated with poor overall survival (HR = 1.62; 95% CI, 1.13–2.33; P = 0.009; I2 = 89%) and reversely correlated with disease-free survival/recurrence-free survival (HR = 1.87; 95% CI, 1.22–2.88; P = 0.004; I2 = 0%). Furthermore, increased RACK1 expression was significantly associated with lymphatic invasion/N+ stage (OR = 1.74; 95% CI, 1.04–2.90; P = 0.04; I2 = 79%) of tumors. Conclusions RACK1 may be a global predictive marker of poor prognosis in patients with cancer and unfavorable clinicopathological characteristics. However, further clinical studies are required to validate these findings.

Low expression of RACK1 is associated with metastasis and worse prognosis in cholangiocarcinoma

“…Ribosomal receptor for activated C-kinase 1 (RACK1) is one of the members from tryptophan-aspartate repeat protein family and acts as a scaffolding protein that nucleates key signaling complexes and regulates the shuttling proteins’ function and subcellular location [ 12 ]. Recently, numerous studies investigated the relationship between RACK1 expression and cancer clinicopathological characteristics and patient prognosis, but its biological function was described as very heterogenous: both as tumor suppressor and more often as tumor promotor [ 13 , 14 ]. RACK1 is upregulated in various cancers, including ovarian, breast cancers and several gastrointestinal tumors, such as hepatic tumor, and usually higher expression of RACK1 is related to worse prognosis [ 15 ].…”