A systematic review and meta-analysis protocol of clinical characteristics and prognostic significance of mammalian target of rapamycin for gastric cancer patients

BACKGROUND: The high morbidity and mortality of Gastric cancer (GC) is seriously endangered human health. Owing to the low rate of early diagnosis and human body can resistant to the anti-tumor drugs, so an early diagnostic biology marker is essential. However, recently studies indicated that Mammalian target of rapamycin (mTOR) is usually frequently deregulated in many cancers, especially in GC. And the efficacy of mTOR inhibitor was promising in a phase II clinical trial which could inhibited the proliferation of GC cells and delayed tumor progression. Therefore, mTOR were identified as a potential prognosis biomarker for GC, and its inhibitor will be promising in anti-GC therapy. The main aim of this systematic review and meta-analysis is to investigate the relationships between the expression level and prognostic value of mTOR in patients with GC. METHODS: Four electronic databases were systematically searched as follow: the PubMed, EMbase, Web of Science databases, and the Cochrane Library. All the data will be extracted by independent researchers from the eligible studies with the inclusion and exclusion criteria. And the data will be analyzed through STATA 12.0 software. RESULTS AND CONCLUSION: This meta-analysis indicated that overexpressed mTOR was significantly in predicting a poorer prognosis for GC patients. The expression level of mTOR should be considered as a potential independent prognostic predictor for GC patients. PROTOCOL REGISTRATION NUMBER: CRD42020159690.