The prognostic value of long noncoding RNAs in prostate cancer: a systematic review and meta-analysis

The abnormally expressed LncRNAs played irreplaceable roles in the prognosis of prostate cancer (PCa). Therefore, we conducted this systematic review and meta-analysis to summarize the association between the expression of LncRNAs, prognosis and clinicopathology of PCa. 18 eligible studies were recruited into our analysis, including 18 on prognosis and 9 on clinicopathological features. Results indicated that aberrant expression of LncRNAs was significantly associated with biochemical recurrence-free survival (BCR-FS) (HR = 1.55, 95%CI: 1.01–2.37, P < 0.05), recurrence free survival (RSF) (HR = 3.07, 95%CI: 1.07–8.86, P < 0.05) and progression free survival (PFS) (HR = 2.34, 95%CI: 1.94–2.83, P < 0.001) in PCa patients. LncRNAs expression level was correlated with several vital clinical features, like tumor size (HR = 0.52, 95%CI: 0.28–0.95, P = 0.03), distance metastasis (HR = 4.55, 95%CI: 2.26–9.15, P < 0.0001) and histological grade (HR = 6.23, 95% CI: 3.29–11.82, P < 0.00001). Besides, down-regulation of PCAT14 was associated with the prognosis of PCa [over survival (HR = 0.77, 95%CI: 0.63–0.95, P = 0.01), BCR-FS (HR = 0.61, 95%CI: 0.48–0.79, P = 0.0001), prostate cancer-specific survival (HR = 0.64, 95%CI: 0.48–0.85, P = 0.002) and metastasis-free survival (HR = 0.61, 95%CI: 0.50-0.74, P < 0.00001)]. And, the increased SChLAP1 expression could imply the worse BCR-FS (HR = 2.54, 95%CI: 1.82-3.56, P < 0.00001) and correlate with Gleason score (< 7 vs ≥ 7) (OR = 4.11, 95% CI: 1.94-8.70, P = 0.0002). Conclusively, our present work demonstrated that LncRNAs transcription level might be potential prognostic markers in PCa.