The role of SOX-2 on the survival of patients with non-small cell lung cancer

J Thorac Dis. 2015 Jul;7(7):1113-8. doi: 10.3978/j.issn.2072-1439.2015.07.14.

Abstract

Background: Lung cancer is the most commonly diagnosed cancer as well as the leading cause of cancer death worldwide. Observational studies on the prognostic role of SOX-2 in non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC) are controversial.

Methods: To clarify the impact of SOX-2 in NSCLC survival, we performed this meta-analysis that included eligible studies. The combined hazard ratios and their corresponding 95% confidence intervals (95% CI) were calculated in terms of overall survival.

Results: A total of seven studies with 1,944 patients were evaluable for this meta-analysis. The studies were categorized by histology, disease stage and patient race. Our results suggested that SOX-2 overexpression had a favorable impact on survival of patients with NSCLC, the HR (95% CI) was 0.57 (0.48 to 0.65). However, highly significant heterogeneity was detected among these studies (I(2)=76.7%, P=0.000).

Conclusions: SOX-2 overexpression indicates a favorable prognosis for patients with NSCLC.

Keywords: SOX-2; lung cancer; meta-analysis; prognosis.