A meta-analysis of the prognostic value of circulating tumor cells in ovarian cancer

Xiaodan He; Shenjie Li; Yali Ni; Ming Jin; Xin Fu

A meta-analysis of the prognostic value of circulating tumor cells in ovarian cancer

Am J Transl Res. 2022 Jun 15;14(6):3574-3583. eCollection 2022.

Authors

Xiaodan He¹, Shenjie Li¹, Yali Ni¹, Ming Jin¹, Xin Fu²

Affiliations

¹ No. 1 Department of Gynecology, Cancer Hospital of China Medical University, Liaoning Cancer Hospital & Institute Shenyang 110801, Liaoning, China.
² Department of Breast Oncology, Cancer Hospital of China Medical University, Liaoning Cancer Hospital & Institute Shenyang 110801, Liaoning, China.

PMID: 35836887
PMCID: PMC9274549

Abstract

Objective: To evaluate the prognostic value of circulating tumor cells (CTCs) in ovarian cancer.

Methods: Chinese databases (Wanfang, Cqvip, CNKI) and English databases (PubMed, Web of Science, Embase, SinoMed, Cochrane Library) were retrieved to collect relevant studies on CTCs evaluation of ovarian cancer prognosis. Data were extracted to analyze the effect of CTCs on the overall survival (OS) and progression-free survival (PFS) of patients, and a meta-analysis was performed using Stata 15 software.

Results: Nineteen studies were included in this meta-analysis. The results showed that ovarian cancer patients with positive CTCs had a shorter OS and higher death rate, (HR=1.57, 95% CI: 1.30, 1.84), a shorter PFS and an increased risk of disease progression (HR=1.29, 95% CI: 1.04, 1.54) compared with patients with negative CTCs. Subgroup analysis showed that the HRs for death and disease progression were higher in CTCs-positive patients after treatment than those patients with negative CTCs (P<0.05).

Conclusion: CTCs detection has a high application value in the prognosis assessment of ovarian cancer.

Keywords: Ovarian cancer; circulating tumor cells; meta-analysis; prognosis.

Publication types

Review