A systematic review and Bayesian meta-analysis assessing intelectin-1 in cancer patients and healthy individuals

D Robert Paval; Thomas G Di Virgilio; Richard J E Skipworth; Iain J Gallagher

doi:10.3389/fonc.2024.1198555

A systematic review and Bayesian meta-analysis assessing intelectin-1 in cancer patients and healthy individuals

Front Oncol. 2024 Feb 28:14:1198555. doi: 10.3389/fonc.2024.1198555. eCollection 2024.

Authors

D Robert Paval¹, Thomas G Di Virgilio¹, Richard J E Skipworth², Iain J Gallagher^{1

3}

Affiliations

¹ Faculty of Health Sciences & Sport, University of Stirling, Stirling, United Kingdom.
² Clinical Surgery, Edinburgh Medical School and Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, United Kingdom.
³ Center for Biomedicine and Global Health, Edinburgh Napier University, Edinburgh, United Kingdom.

Abstract

Background: Intelectin-1 (ITLN1) is an adipokine with multiple physiological functions, including a role in tumour formation and development. Previous research reported variable ITLN1 levels for cancer patients and healthy individuals. This study aimed to compare ITLN1 concentrations between controls and cancer patients and to determine the adipokine's physiological level.

Methods: Five databases were searched in January 2022 for studies that measured the level of ITLN1 in adults that were healthy or diagnosed with any type of cancer. After title, abstract and full-text screening, the methodological quality of the studies was assessed. The extracted data were meta-analysed using the R language and Bayesian statistical techniques.

Results: Overall, 15 studies compared circulating ITLN1 levels between healthy individuals (n=3424) and cancer patients (n=1538), but no differences were observed between these studies. ITLN1 was not different between groups in an analysis that evaluated high-quality studies only (n=5). The meta-analysis indicated considerably higher ITLN1 levels in gastrointestinal (i.e., colorectal, pancreatic, gastric) cancer compared to controls, while the other cancer types did not demonstrate differences between groups. The mean ITLN1 level of healthy individuals was 234 ± 21ng/ml (n=136), while the average value in high-quality studies (n=52) was 257 ± 31ng/ml.

Conclusion: Different types of cancer showed different circulating ITLN1 patterns. Circulating ITLN1 concentration was higher in gastrointestinal cancer compared to controls, with strong support from the meta-analytical model. Our analysis also determined the mean ITLN1 level in healthy individuals; this is a crucial starting point for understanding how this cytokine associates with diseases. Two-thirds of the studies were of low methodological quality and thus, future work in this field must focus on improved methods.

Systematic review registration: https://www.crd.york.ac.uk/prospero/display_record.php?RecordID=303406, identifier CRD42022303406.

Keywords: Bayesian; cancer; gastrointestinal; intelectin; omentin; review.

Publication types

Systematic Review

Grants and funding

The author(s) declare financial support was received for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article. This research was supported by a PhD Studentship awarded to RP by the University of Stirling in 2019.