The potential value of microRNA-145 for predicting prognosis in patients with ovarian cancer: A protocol for systematic review and meta-analysis

BACKGROUND: As an anticancer gene, microRNA-145 (miRNA-145) inhibits the growth, migration, and invasion of cancer cells, and inhibits tumorigenesis by targeting various genes that are abnormally expressed in tumors. However, whether miRNA-145 can be applied as a biomarker for potential prognosis of ovarian cancer still remains controversial. Therefore, this study further explored the prognostic value and mechanism of miRNA-145 in ovarian cancer through meta-analysis and bioinformatics analysis. METHODS: Eligible studies were identified by searching the China National Knowledge Infrastructure, Chinese Biomedical literature Database, Chinese Scientific and Journal Database, Wan Fang database, PubMed, EMBASE, and Web of Science up to July 2021. Pooled hazard ratios with 95% confidence intervals for patient survival were calculated to investigate the effects of miRNA-145 on the prognosis of ovarian cancer. Survival curves of differential expression of miRNA-145 were analyzed by Oncomir. The target genes of miRNA-145 were predicted by miRTARbase and Diana-Tarbase V7.0 database. Enrichr database was applied to analyze the target genes by gene ontology and Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes pathways. Protein–protein interaction network of target genes was constructed from STRING database. Cytoscape software was used to screen the hub genes to meet the requirements. The Gene Expression Profiling Interactive Analysis database was applied to analyze the survival outcomes of hub genes. RESULTS: The results of this meta-analysis would be submitted to peer-reviewed journals for publication. CONCLUSION: This study provides high-quality evidence to support the relationship between miRNA-145 expression and ovarian cancer prognosis. Through bioinformatics analysis, we further explored the mechanism of miRNA-145 in ovarian cancer and related pathways.