Clinical utility of microRNA-378 as early diagnostic biomarker of human cancers: a meta-analysis of diagnostic test

A meta-analysis was performed to evaluate the diagnostic value of miR-378 for detecting human cancers. Systematic electronic searches were conducted in PubMed, Web of Science, Embase, China National Knowledge Infrastructure, and Wanfang from the inception to January 15, 2016. We used the bivariate mixed effects models to estimate the combined sensitivity, specificity, PLRs (positive likelihood ratios), NLR (negative likelihood ratios), DORs (diagnostic odds ratios) and their 95% CI (confidence intervals) for assessing the diagnostic performance of miR-378 for cancers. Twelve studies were included in the meta-analysis, with a total number of 1172 cancer patients and 809 health controls. The overall estimated sensitivity and specificity were 0.75 and 0.74. The pooled PLR was 2.91, NLR was 0.34, DOR was 8.50, and AUC (Area Under the Curve) was 0.81. The subgroup analyses suggested that AUC for plasma-based is higher than serum-based. The overall diagnostic values of miR-378 in the present meta-analyses are moderate accurate for human cancers; The source of specimen has an effect on the diagnostic accuracy. The diagnostic value of serum-based was higher than that of plasma-based.