Prognostic value of octamer binding transcription factor 4 for patients with solid tumors: A meta-analysis

BACKGROUND: Octamer binding transcription factor 4 (Oct4) is critically important in the development and progression of cancer, and is considered a potential biomarker for tumor prognosis. However, the prognostic value of Oct4 in patients with solid tumors remains elusive. Herein, we conducted a meta-analysis to assess the prognostic value of Oct4 in patients with solid tumors. METHODS: We conducted a literature search on PubMed, Embase, and Web of Science databases to retrieve comprehensive and eligible studies published until December 2019. The study was conducted per the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analysis guidelines. The pooled hazard ratios (HRs) with 95% confidence intervals (CIs) of overall survival (OS) and disease-free survival (DFS)/recurrence-free survival (RFS)/progress-free survival (PFS) were used to evaluate the prognostic value of Oct4 in patients with solid tumors via either random or fixed-effects models. RESULTS: In total, 36 studies with 5198 patients were included in the meta-analysis. Notably, elevated Oct4 expression was associated with worse OS (pooled HR: 2.02, 95% CI: 1.55–2.62, P < .001) and DFS/RFS/PFS (pooled HR: 2.34, 95% CI: 1.88–2.92, P < .001). CONCLUSION: This work demonstrated that patients with solid tumors show high expression of Oct4 which is linked to worse prognosis in patients with solid tumors including hepatocellular carcinoma (OS, DFS/RFS/PFS), esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (OS), gastric cancer (OS), cervical cancer (OS, DFS/RFS/PFS), and colorectal cancer (OS, DFS/RFS/PFS), this implicated Oct4 as a potential biomarker to predict the prognosis of tumors.