Diagnostic accuracy of serum dickkopf-1 protein in diagnosis hepatocellular carcinoma: An updated meta-analysis

BACKGROUND: To verify the accuracy of serum dickkopf-1 protein (DKK-1) in the diagnosis of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) by an updated meta-analysis. METHODS: We searched potential eligible studies in PubMed and Embase before July 8, 2018. Sensitivity (SN), specificity (SP), positive likelihood ratio (PLR), negative likelihood ratio (NLR), summary receiver operating characteristics curve (sROC), and diagnostic odds ratio (DOR) were pooled with their 95% confidence intervals CIs) using a bivariate random-effects model. RESULTS: A total of 8 articles contained 10 studies on diagnosis of HCC with DKK-1 alone,7 articles contained 9 studies on diagnosis of HCC with a-fetoprotein (AFP) alone and 5 articles contained 7 studies on diagnosis of HCC with DKK-1 + AFP were identified. The pooled SN, SP, PLR, NLR, and DOR of DKK-1 alone, AFP alone and DKK-1 + AFP were 0.72 (95% CI: 0.70–0.75), 0.62 (95% CI:0.59–0.64) and 0.80 (95% CI:0.78–0.83), 0.86 (95% CI: 0.84–0.87), 0.82 (95% CI:0.80–0.84) and 0.87 (95% CI: 0.85–0.88), 4.91 (95% CI: 2.73–8.83), 3.60 (95% CI:2.01–6.44) and 6.18 (95% CI: 4.68–8.16), 0.32 (95% CI: 0.22–0.47), 0.49 (95% CI:0.40–0.60) and 0.20 (95% CI: 0.15–0.26), and 17.21 (95% CI: 9.10–32.57), 7.45 (95% CI:3.69–15.01) and 31.39 (95% CI: 23.59–43.20), respectively. The area under the sROC was 0.88, 0.70, and 0.92 for the 3 diagnostic methods. CONCLUSIONS: Serum DKK-1 + AFP showed a high accuracy for diagnosis of HCC, and serum DKK-1 alone had moderate accuracy as compared to a previous meta-analysis, while AFP alone owned an unsatisfied diagnostic behavior for HCC. Due to the limitations of the current analysis, further well-designed studies are needed to confirm the diagnostic value of DKK-1 and DKK-1 + AFP in HCC diagnosis.