AUTHOR=Wang Qiang , Zhang Wei , Deng Chao , Lin Shicheng , Zhou Yejiang 

TITLE=HOXA-AS2 may predict the prognosis of solid tumors among Chinese patients: A meta-analysis and bioinformatic analysis

JOURNAL=Frontiers in Oncology

VOLUME=12

YEAR=2022

URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/oncology/articles/10.3389/fonc.2022.1030825

DOI=10.3389/fonc.2022.1030825

ISSN=2234-943X

ABSTRACT=<sec><title>Background</title><p>HOXA cluster antisense RNA 2 (lncRNA <italic>HOXA-AS2</italic>) is a long noncoding RNA (lncRNA) that aberrantly expressed in various cancers and is closely associated with cancer progression. To overcome the limitation of small sample sizes that are inherent to single studies, a meta-analysis was conducted to explore the relationship between the expression level of <italic>HOXA-AS2</italic> and cancer prognosis.</p></sec><sec><title>Methods</title><p>Correlational studies were retrieved by searching the databases of PubMed, Embase and Web of Science (up to August 10, 2022). The survival and prognosis data included overall survival (OS), and clinical parameters were gathered and analyzed.</p></sec><sec><title>Results</title><p>Eighteen publications with 1181 patients who were diagnosed with solid tumors were ultimately included. The results showed that, compared with patients with low <italic>HOXA-AS2</italic> expression, patients with high <italic>HOXA-AS2</italic> expression tended to have poorer overall survival (OS) (HR= 2.52, 95% CI 1.87-3.38, P &lt; 0.01) and shorter disease-free survival (DFS) (HR=7.19, 95% CI 3.20-16.17, P &lt; 0.01). In addition, elevated <italic>HOXA-AS2</italic> expression indicated a larger tumor size (OR =2.43, 95% CI 1.53–3.88,P &lt; 0.01), more advanced TNM stage (OR=3.85, 95% CI 2.79-5.31, P &lt; 0.01), earlier lymph node metastasis (LNM) (OR = 4.41, 95% CI 3.05-6.39, P &lt; 0.01) and distant metastasis (DM) (OR= 2.96, 95% CI 1.87-4.7, P &lt; 0.01). Furthermore, <italic>HOXA-AS2</italic> expression was notassociated with age (OR=1.15, 95% CI 0.90-1.47), gender (OR=1.16, 95% CI 0.89-1.53), or tumor differentiation (OR=1.21, 95% CI 0.56-2.63). Moreover, aberrant <italic>HOXA-AS2</italic> expression was related to drug sensitivity in various types of cancers.</p></sec><sec><title>Conclusion</title><p>The overexpression of <italic>HOXA-AS2</italic> predicted poor cancer prognosis in the Chinese population, including poor OS, DFS, TNM, LNM, and DM. <italic>HOXA-AS2</italic> could serve as a promising prognostic biomarker and therapeutic target.</p></sec><sec><title>Systematic Review Registration</title><p><uri xlink:href="https://www.crd.york.ac.uk/prospero/" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">https://www.crd.york.ac.uk/prospero/</uri>, identifier CRD42022352604.</p></sec>