Elevated long noncoding RNA MALAT-1 expression is predictive of poor prognosis in patients with breast cancer: a meta-analysis

Accumulating evidence indicates that aberrant regulation of metastasis-associated lung adenocarcinoma transcript 1 (MALAT-1), a long noncoding RNA (lncRNA), plays a vital role in tumorigenesis. However, its association with breast cancer has not been systematically evaluated. In the current study, a meta-analysis was conducted to clarify the association between MALAT-1 and the prognosis and clinicopathological features of breast cancer. Relevant literature published in several databases was searched. Hazard ratio (HR) and odds ratio (OR) with 95% confidence interval (CI) were calculated to evaluate the effect of MALAT-1 expression on the survival outcomes and clinicopathological features of breast cancer. A total of 12 studies involving 4106 patients were identified. Pooled HR demonstrated that elevated MALAT-1 expression significantly predicted unfavorable overall survival (HR = 2.06, 95% CI: 1.66–2.56, P<0.0001) in patients with breast cancer. Subgroup analysis stratified by cancer type, sample size, and method of variance analysis also showed statistically significant associations. Additionally, the HR of patients with up-regulated MALAT-1 expression concerning disease-free survival (DFS), recurrence-free survival (RFS), and disease-specific survival (DSS) was 1.91 (95% CI: 1.53–2.39, P<0.0001). Further, elevated MALAT-1 expression was positively correlated with the progesterone receptor (PR) status (OR = 1.47, 95% CI: 1.18–1.82). Thus, MALAT-1 is a promising biomarker for predicting survival outcomes in patients with breast cancer.