Background: Numerous studies have explored miRNAs as potential diagnostic biomarkers in patients with renal cell carcinoma (RCC). However, its diagnostic accuracy remains controversial.
Research design and methods: PubMed, Cochrane Library, Embase, Web of Science, China National Knowledge Infrastructure, China Science and Technology Journal, and Wanfang Databases were searched according to inclusion/exclusion criteria. The quality of the studies was assessed using the QUADAS-2 scale. The combined sensitivity, specificity, positive/negative likelihood ratios, diagnostic odds ratio, and area under the curve (AUC) of the summary receiver operating characteristic (SROC) were calculated using a bivariate mixed-effect model.
Results: Of the 16 studies included, 20 diagnostic tests were assessed. Results are presented with a corresponding 95% confidence interval in brackets: for miR-210, the combined sensitivity was 0.78 (0.68-0.85), specificity 0.71 (0.61-0.79), and AUC 0.81 (0.77-0.8); for miR-378, combined sensitivity 0.78 (0.68-0.86), specificity 0.79 (0.64-0.89), and AUC 0.85 (0.81-0.88); for miR-1233, combined sensitivity 0.86 (0.80-0.90), specificity 0.80 (0.36-0.96), and AUC 0.86 (0.83-0.89); for miR-21, combined sensitivity 0.84 (0.78-0.89), specificity 0.79 (0.55-0.92), and AUC 0.87 (0.84-0.89).
Conclusions: This meta-analysis suggests that miR-210, miR-378, miR-1233, and miR-21 have high accuracy in diagnosing RCC.
Keywords: biomarker; diagnosis; meta-analysis; miRNA; renal cell carcinoma.