miR-203 as a novel biomarker for the diagnosis and prognosis of colorectal cancer: a systematic review and meta-analysis

We sought to systematically evaluate the diagnostic and prognostic value of miR-203 in patients with colorectal cancer. To explore the diagnostic performance of miR-203, eligible studies were identified from biomedical databases. Based on these results, 11 studies were pooled and included in this meta-analysis. The pooled sensitivity, specificity, and diagnostic odds ratios of miR-203 were 0.83 (95% confidence interval, CI: 0.78–0.86), 0.80 (95% CI: 0.77–0.83), and 19.27 (95% CI: 7.23–51.36) for the diagnosis of colorectal cancer. The area under the curve for miR-203 for diagnosing colorectal cancer was 0.89. Patients with higher expression of tissue miR-203 had poor overall survival (pooled hazard ratio: 1.63; 95% CI: 1.03–2.57, P=0.04), but serum miR-203 was not predictive (pooled hazard ratio: 1.59; 95% CI: 0.31–8.12, P=0.58). The miR-203 values of tissue and serum merged together may perhaps predict superior overall survival (pooled hazard ratio: 1.62; 95% CI: 0.93–2.82), but the effect was not significant (P=0.09).