Circular RNAs as diagnostic biomarkers in gastric cancer: A meta-analysis review

PurposeGastric cancer is a malignant tumor in the world and circRNA has a close connection with it. However, the effects of circRNA on gastric cancer is still not clear.MethodsA comprehensive search of PubMed, Web of Science and Embase for published experimental studies about circRNA from 2013 to June 2018 was conducted with two investigators. Diagnostic OR (DOR) was calculated to evaluate the diagnostic efficacy by STATA 12.0.ResultsTotal 11 studies were found, including 12 kinds of circRNAs, 11 in tissues, 5 in plasma, and all down regulated. The combined DOR and AUC (Area Under the Curve of Receiver Operating Characteristic) with their 95%CI were 8.778 [6.108, 12.614] and 0.81 [0.78, 0.84] respectively, indicating that circRNAs can reflect gastric cancer as well. Subgroup analysis revealed that circRNAs in plasma were higher than tissues as well as in subgroup with different sample sizes. We speculated that the heterogeneity of the literatures was mainly due to the different backgrounds of gastric cancer and the differences in experimental design and operation process. And the Deeks’ funnel map revealed there was no obvious public biasness in the literature.ConclusionCircRNAs have high sensitivity and specificity in the diagnosis of gastric cancer, and it may become an auxiliary diagnostic biomarker of gastric cancer.