Background: Altered expression of microRNAs contributes to human carcinogenesis. Previous studies assessed the association of aberrant circulating microRNA (miR)-150 level with the risk in developing various human cancers, but the data were inconsistent.
Methods: This meta-analysis further assessed the potential diagnostic value of miR-150 in cancer. PubMed, Embase, and Web of Science for publications were searched using the keywords of miR-150 and human cancer. Summary odds ratios (ORs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) were obtained to assess the diagnostic value.
Results: The summary estimates revealed that the pooled sensitivity was 80% (95% CI: 74% - 85%), the specificity was 81% (95% CI: 71% - 87%), the DOR was 16.47 (95% CI: 10.41 - 26.06), and the AUC was 0.86 (95% CI: 0.82 - 0.89) for miR-150 as a tumor marker.
Conclusions: miR-150 may be a potential noninvasive tumor marker for various human cancers and further studies with a large sample size are needed to confirm.