Prognostic significance of latent membrane protein 1 expression in non-Hodgkin lymphoma: A meta-analysis

BACKGROUND: The prognostic value of latent membrane protein 1 (LMP1) in non-Hodgkin lymphoma (NHL) has been evaluated in several studies. However, the conclusions remain controversial. METHODS: We searched relevant literatures from Embase, PubMed, and China National Knowledge Infrastructure Platform databases and performed a meta-analysis to evaluate the prognostic significance of LMP1 expression in NHL. Pooled hazard ratio (HR), 95% confidence interval (CI), and P value were calculated. Nine relevant studies were analyzed in this meta-analysis. We performed a pooled analysis to assess the association between LMP1 expression and overall survival of NHL patients. RESULTS: Our results revealed that LMP1-positive NHL patients had significantly poorer outcomes than LMP1-negative patients (HR = 2.13, 95% CI = 1.31–3.46, P(heterogeneity) = 0.005, I(2) = 63.5%). Furthermore, in the subgroup analysis stratified by country, a statistically significant association was found among Chinese (HR = 2.80, 95% CI = 1.53–5.15, P(heterogeneity) = 0.342, I(2) = 6.9%); however, no statistically significant relations were found among Japanese (HR = 1.55, 95% CI = 0.74–3.24, P(heterogeneity) = 0.020, I(2) = 65.7%). CONCLUSION: The expression of LMP1 can be considered a poor predictor of survival in patients with NHL. In addition, LMP1 expression assessment could provide more detailed information for patients with NHL and could be used to optimize therapeutic schemes.