Expressivity of Interleukin-8 and Gastric Cancer Prognosis Susceptibility: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis

BACKGROUND: The relationship between interleukin-8 (IL-8) expression and the prognosis of gastric cancer (GC) patients has been reported, but the results are contradictory. AIM: To investigate the effect of IL-8 expression on the prognosis of patients with GC. METHOD: A comprehensive search strategy was used to search the PubMed, Web of Science and Cochrane Library databases. The total survival time was analysed using the RevMan 5.4 software. Through extensive search and meta-analysis of relevant studies, studies examining the relationship between IL-8 expression and prognosis in patients with GC were conducted to obtain more accurate estimates. FINDINGS: Eight studies (1843 patients) were included. The combined results of all the studies showed that high expression of IL-8 was a risk factor for poor prognosis in patients with GC (hazard ratio (HR): 2.08; 95% CI: 1.81–2.39). Sensitivity analysis suggested that the pooled HR was stable, and omitting a single study did not change the significance of the pooled HR. Funnel plots revealed no significant publication bias in the meta-analysis. CONCLUSION: High IL-8 expression could be a negative prognostic biomarker for patients with GC.