Prognostic and clinicopathological significance of ubiquitin-specific protease 22 overexpression in cancers: evidence from a meta-analysis

PURPOSE: This meta-analysis study aimed to reveal the prognostic relevance of ubiquitin-specific protease 22 (USP22) expression in patients with cancers. METHODS: PubMed, Embase, and the Cochrane Library electronic databases were searched for relevant studies published up to April 2017. The prognostic value of USP22 expression was evaluated by hazard ratio with 95% confidence intervals (CIs). Relative risk (RR) with 95% CIs assessed the effects of USP22 expression on clinicopathological parameters. A total of 16 studies of 2,233 Chinese patients were included in the final meta-analysis. RESULTS: A significant association was found between USP22 overexpression and survival in patients with cancers. The pooled RR indicated that USP22 overexpression was related to histological grade, advanced tumor–node–metastasis stage, positive lymph node metastasis, and distant metastasis. CONCLUSION: This meta-analysis demonstrated that USP22 could be a novel biomarker for predicting prognosis in patients with cancers in the Chinese population.