Diagnostic accuracy of MUC7 expression for bladder cancer: A systematic review and meta-analysis

BACKGROUND: There have been many studies on MUC7 and bladder cancer (BC) that have been published; however, all sample sizes were not enough which led to their conclusions being based on small samples. Therefore, this meta-analysis aims to systematically analyze the diagnostic value of MUC7 for bladder cancer and provide a scientific basis for the diagnosis of bladder cancer. METHODS: To obtain relevant literature on MUC7 diagnosed bladder cancer, databases such as PubMed, Web of Science, Cochrane Library, China National Knowledge Infrastructure, Wanfang data, Chongqing VIP, and Chinese Biomedical Literature Database were searched from the establishment of the database to July 11, 2023. According to established inclusion and exclusion criteria, literature was screened and data were extracted. The Quality Assessment of Diagnostic Accuracy Studies 2 was used to evaluate the risk of bias and applicability of included literature. Meta-disc1.4 and Stata12.0 software were used for Meta-analysis. RESULTS: Twelve studies were included, including728 BC patients and 458 non-BC controls. The pooled sensitivity and pooled specificity were 0.74 (95% confidence interval [CI]: 0.71–0.77) and 0.92 (95% CI: 0.90–0.95), respectively. The pooled negative likelihood ratio was 0.27 (95% CI: 0.20–0.36), and the pooled positive likelihood ratio was 9.58 (95% CI: 5.40–17.00). The diagnostic odds ratio was 40.95 (95% CI: 20.31–82.59), and the area under the curve was 0.91 in the overall summary of the receiver operating characteristic curve. CONCLUSION: MUC7 might be a potential biomarker for diagnosing BC. However, more large sample and multicenter studies are needed to prove whether it can be used in clinical diagnosis.