Loss of phosphatase and tensin homolog expression correlates with clinicopathological features of non‐small cell lung cancer patients and its impact on survival: A systematic review and meta‐analysis

BACKGROUND: Phosphatase and tensin homolog (PTEN), regarded as a tumor suppressor gene, may act as a prognostic biomarker in human cancers. METHODS: All eligible studies from MEDLINE, Embase, CENTRAL, and the Chinese BioMedical Literature Database to October 2016 were incorporated. Two reviewers independently screened the literature according to inclusion and exclusion criteria, extracted the data, assessed the methodological quality of the included studies, and conducted meta‐analysis. RESULTS: A total of 2486 patients from 19 studies were included. PTEN expression was significantly correlated with gender, smoking history, histology (adenocarcinoma [ADC] vs. squamous cell carcinoma), tumor node metastasis stage (I–II vs. III–IV), N status (N0 vs. N1–N3), and distant metastasis (M0 vs. M1). Loss of PTEN expression was associated with poorer overall survival, but had no significant association with disease‐free survival. Subgroup analysis showed that negative PTEN expression was associated with a poorer outcome in Asian and ADC patients, but not in Western or squamous cell carcinoma patients. CONCLUSION: Loss of PTEN might play an unfavorable prognostic role for overall survival of non‐small cell lung cancer patients, especially Asian or ADC patients.