Clinicopathological and Prognostic Significance of Survivin Expression in Patients with Oral Squamous Cell Carcinoma: Evidence from a Meta-Analysis

BACKGROUND: Survivin has been proposed as a promising prognostic marker in oral squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC), but the published data on survivin expression in patients with this condition are controversial. To address this we performed a meta-analysis systematically to assess the clinicopathological and prognostic significance of survivin expression in OSCC. METHODS: We searched PubMed, Embase, Web of Science and Ovid databases for papers investigating the clinicopathological and prognostic significance of survivin expression in OSCC. The pooled odds ratios (ORs) and corresponding 95% confidence intervals (CIs) were used to determine the relevance of survivin. RESULTS: A total of 15 papers, including 1040 cases in which survivin expression was detected by immunohistochemistry (IHC) or reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR), were included. A meta-analysis of clinicopathological variables revealed a correlation between survivin expression and lymph node metastasis (OR = 0.62, 95% CI = 0.44–0.88, p < 0.05) and clinical stage (OR = 0.63, 95% CI = 0.41–0.96, p < 0.05). However, no significant associations were found between survivin expression and tumor differentiation grade (OR = 0.72, 95%CI = 0.26–1.11, p > 0.05), depth of invasion (OR = 0.76, 95% CI = 0.50–1.14, p > 0.05), age (OR = 0.78, 95% CI = 0.48–1.29, p > 0.05) or gender (OR = 1.31, 95% CI = 0.86–2.01, p > 0.05). Subgroup analysis using stratified detection methods showed no significant associations between the expression of survivin protein and clinicopathological variables in OSCC. A correlation between survivin expression and poor prognosis of patients with OSCC (HR = 1.62, 95% CI = 1.23–2.01, p < 0.05) was demonstrated. CONCLUSION: Survivin is a potential prognostic marker of OSCC. Future studies with larger sample sizes and well-designed inclusion criteria will be needed to dissect the role of survivin expression in determining the clinicopathological features and/or prognosis of OSCC.