mTOR pathway protein immunoexpression as a prognostic factor for survival in head and neck cancer patients: a systematic review and meta-analysis

作者：Mascarenhas Marques Ana Elizia; Elias Silvia Taveira; Porporatti Andre Luis; Castilho Rogerio Moraes; Squarize Cristiane Helena; Canto Graziela De Luca; Silva Guerra Eliete Neves

来源：Journal of Oral Pathology & Medicine, 2016, 45(5): 319-328.

DOI：10.1111/jop.12390

• carcinoma
• head and neck cancer
• mTOR pathway
• prognosis
• survival

BackgroundSeveral mTOR pathway proteins are involved in the regulation of cellular anabolism, growth, proliferation, and survival. Activated proteins in the mTOR pathway are deregulated in multiple types of cancers and could influence prognosis. However, it is unclear whether deregulation of mTOR pathway proteins serves a prognostic role in patients with head and neck cancer (HNC). Furthermore, proteins in the mTOR pathway may be important targets for anticancer therapy. The aim of this study was to summarize existing cohort studies to determine whether immunoexpression of mTOR pathway proteins are important prognostic factors for survival in patients with HNC.
Materials and methodsA systematic review was performed using the Cochrane, Lilacs, PubMed, ScienceDirect, Scopus, and Web of Science databases (up to 23 January 2015). A meta-analysis was conducted to measure the frequency of protein expression in head and neck cancer patient samples and the prognostic value of mTOR pathway proteins for overall survival (OS) and disease-free survival (DFS).
ResultsTwelve studies were included in our final analysis. The meta-analysis revealed that the frequency of overall expression of mTOR pathway proteins was 74.42% (CI: 63.3 to 84.0, P<0.001, n=2016 samples). The survival meta-analysis showed a pooled hazard ratio for OS and DFS of 1.44 (95% confidence interval [95% CI] 1.14-1.73) and 1.18 (95% CI 0.71-1.64), respectively.
ConclusionThis systematic review and meta-analysis support evidence that mTOR pathway proteins can be used as predictive markers for survival in patients with HNC because their expression was significantly associated with poor OS and short DFS.

• 出版日期2016-5