Prognostic value of long noncoding RNA urothelial carcinoma-associated 1 in esophageal carcinoma: A protocol for meta-analysis, TCGA data and bioinformatics analysis

BACKGROUND: Currently, an increasing number of long noncoding RNAs (LncRNAs) have been reported to be abnormally expressed in human carcinomas and play a vital role in tumourigenesis. Some studies have been carried out to investigate the influence of the expression of LncRNA human urothelial carcinoma associated 1 (UCA1) on prognosis and clinical significance in patients with esophageal cancer, but the results are contradictory and uncertain. A meta-analysis and was conducted with controversial data to accurately assess the issue. We collected relevant TCGA data to further testify the result. In addition, bioinformatics analysis was conducted to investigate the mechanism and related pathways of LncRNA UCA1 in esophageal carcinoma. METHODS: Wanfang, Chinese Biomedical Literature Database, Chinese National Knowledge Infrastructure, the Chongqing VIP Chinese Science and Technology Periodical Database, PubMed, Embase, and Web of Science were thoroughly searched for relevant information. Two reviewers independently performed data extraction and literature quality evaluation. Odd ratio and its 95% confidence intervals were applied to evaluate the relationship between LncRNA UCA1 and clinicopathological characteristics of esophageal carcinoma patients. Hazard ratios and its 95% confidence intervals were adopted to assess the prognostic effects of LncRNA UCA1 on overall survival and disease-free survival. Meta-analysis was performed with Stata 14.0 software. To further assess the function of LncRNA UCA1 in esophageal carcinoma, relevant data from The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) database was collected. Three databases, miRWalk, TargetScan, and miRDB, were used for prediction of target genes. Genes present in these 3 databases were considered as predicted target genes of LncRNA UCA1. Venny 2.1 were used for intersection analysis. Subsequently, GO, KEGG, and PPI network analysis were conducted based on the overlapping target genes of LncRNA UCA1 to explore the possible molecular mechanism in esophageal carcinoma. RESULTS: This study provides a high-quality medical evidence for the correlation between LncRNA UCA1 expression and overall survival, and between disease-free survival and clinicopathological features. Based on bioinformatics analysis, this study enhanced the understanding of the mechanism and related pathways of LncRNA UCA1 in esophageal carcinoma. CONCLUSION: The study provides updated evidence to evaluate whether the expression of LncRNA UCA1 is in association with poor prognosis in patients with esophageal carcinoma. ETHICS AND DISSEMINATION: The private information from individuals will not be published. This systematic review also should not damage participants’ rights. Ethical approval is not available. The results may be published in a peer-reviewed journal or disseminated in relevant conferences. OSF REGISTRATION NUMBER: DOI 10.17605/OSF.IO/8MCHW.