Podoplanin-positive cancer-associated fibroblasts predict poor prognosis in lung cancer patients

BACKGROUND: Cancer-associated fibroblasts (CAFs) are a heterogeneous population, and different subpopulations play differential roles in tumor microenvironment. However, the prognostic role of podoplanin-positive CAFs in human lung cancer still remains controversial. METHODS: Herein, we performed a meta-analysis including 12 published studies with 1,802 patients identified from PubMed and EBSCO to assess the prognostic impact of podoplanin-positive CAFs in lung cancer patients. RESULTS: We found that podoplanin(+) fibroblast infiltration significantly decreased overall survival (OS), disease-free survival (DFS), and progression-free survival in patients. In stratified analyses, podoplanin(+) fibroblast infiltration was significantly associated with worse OS and DFS in both squamous cell carcinoma and adenocarcinoma of lung. In addition, high density of podoplanin-positive CAFs significantly correlated with unfavorable clinicopathological features such as lymph node metastasis, and lymphatic, vascular, and pleural invasion of patients. CONCLUSION: Podoplanin(+) fibroblast infiltration leads to worse clinical outcome in lung cancer patients, implicating that it is a valuable prognostic biomarker and targeting it may have a potential for effective treatment.