Urinary Angiogenin as a Marker for Bladder Cancer: A Meta-Analysis

AIMS: Bladder cancer (BCa) is a common cancer in North America and Europe that carries considerable morbidity and mortality. A reliable biomarker for early detection of the bladder is crucial for improving the prognosis of BCA. In this meta-analysis, we examine the diagnostic role of the angiogenin (ANG) protein in patients' urine with bladder neoplasm. METHODS: We performed a systematic literature search using ScienceDirect, Web of Science, PubMed/MEDLINE, Scopus, Google Scholar, and Embase, up to 10(th) October 2020 databases. Meta-Disc V.1.4 and Comprehensive Meta-Analysis V.2.2 software calculated the pooled specificity, sensitivity, area under the curve (AUC), diagnostic odds ratio (DOR), positive likelihood ratio (LR(+)), negative likelihood ratio (LR(−)), Q(∗) index, and summary receiver-operating characteristic (SROC) for the role of ANG as a urinary biomarker for BCa patients. RESULTS: Four case-control studies were included with 656 participants (417 cases and 239 controls) in this meta-analysis. The pooled sensitivity of 0.71 (95% CI: 0.66–0.75), specificity of 0.78 (95% CI: 0.73–0.81), LR(+) of 3.34 (95% CI: 2.02–5.53), LR(−) of 0.37 (95% CI: 0.32–0.44), DOR of 9.99 (95% CI: 4.69–21.28), and AUC of 0.789 and Q(∗) index of 0.726 demonstrate acceptable diagnostic precision of ANG in identifying BCa. CONCLUSION: This meta-analysis showed that ANG could be a fair biomarker for the diagnosis of BCa patients.