Prognostic Role of Hepatoma-derived Growth Factor in Solid Tumors of Eastern Asia: a Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis

Hepatoma-derived growth factor (HDGF) is a novel jack-of-all-trades in cancer. Here we quantify theprognostic impact of this biomarker and assess how consistent is its expression in solid tumors. A comprehensivesearch strategy was used to search relevant literature updated on October 3, 2014 in PubMed, EMBASE andWEB of Science. Correlations between HDGF expression and clinicopathological features or cancer prognosiswas analyzed. All pooled HRs or ORs were derived from random-effects models. Twenty-six studies, primarilyin Eastern Asia, covering 2,803 patients were included in the analysis, all of them published during the pastdecade. We found that HDGF overexpression was significantly associated with overall survival (OS) (HROS=2.35,95%CI=2.04-2.71, p<0.001) and disease free survival (DFS) (HRDFS=2.25, 95%CI =1.81-2.79, p<0.001) in solidtumors, especially in non-small cell lung cancer, hepatocellular carcinoma and cholangiocarcinoma (CCA).Moreover, multivariate survival analysis showed that HDGF overexpression was an independent predictor ofpoor prognosis (HROS=2.41, 95%CI: 2.02-2.81, p<0.001; HRDFS=2.39, 95%CI: 1.77-3.24, p<0.001). In addition,HDGF overexpression was significantly associated with tumor category (T3-4 versus T1-2, OR=2.12, 95%CI:1.17-3.83, p=0.013) and lymph node status (N+ versus N-, OR=2.37, 95%CI: 1.31-4.29, p=0.03) in CCA. This studyprovides a comprehensive examination of the literature available on the association of HDGF overexpressionwith OS, DFS and some clinicopathological features in solid tumors. Meta-analysis results provide evidence thatHDGF may be a new indicator of poor cancer prognosis. Considering the limitations of the eligible studies, otherlarge-scale prospective trials must be conducted to clarify the prognostic value of HDGF in predicting cancersurvival.