The clinicopathological significance and prognostic value of EMMPRIN overexpression in cancers: evidence from 39 cohort studies

Extracellular matrix metalloproteinase inducer (EMMPRIN) has been reported to be associated with tumor formation and invasion in many studies. However, the clinicopathological significance and prognosis of EMMPRIN in cancer patients remains inconclusive. Therefore, we conducted a meta-analysis to assess the predictive potential of EMMPRIN in various cancers. By searching Pubmed, Cochrane library database and web of science comprehensively, 39studies with 5739 cases were included in our meta-analysis. The results indicated that EMMPRIN overexpression was significantly associated with poor outcome of cancers (HR=2.46, 95% CI: 2.21-2.75, P<0.0001). In addition, a significant relation was found between EMMPRIN overexpression and clinicopathological features, such as tumor stage (T3+T4/T1+T2, OR=1.87, 95% CI: 1.64-2.12, P<0.0001), tumor differentiation (poor/ well+moderate, OR=1.09, 95% CI: 1.60-2.23, P<0.0001), clinical stage (III+IV /I +II, OR=1.96, 95% CI: 1.69-2.27, P<0.0001) and nodal metastasis (positive/negative, OR=2.37, 95% CI: 1.93-2.90, P<0.0001). However, the expression of EMMRIN was not significantly associated with tumor stage in cervical cancer (OR=1.35, 95% CI: 0.73-2.48, P=0.33). In conclusion, EMMPRIN overxepression is significantly associated with clinicopathological characteristics and prognosis of cancers. Thus, EMMPRIN may be regarded as a promising bio-marker in predicting the clinical outcome of patients in cancers and could be used as the therapeutic target during clinical practices.