The diagnostic value of interleukin 6 as a biomarker for gastric cancer: A meta-analysis and systematic review

BACKGROUND: Gastric cancer is one of the most common cancers and a main cause of global cancer death. The expression of interleukin 6 is associated with the risk of gastric cancer. But the diagnostic accuracy of interleukin 6 remains unclear. This study was designed to assess the diagnostic performance of interleukin 6 in gastric cancer diagnosis. METHODS: The related data was obtained from Oncomine and studied using bioinformatics analysis. The PubMed, Embase, Cochrane Library, Web of science databases were searched for related studies published from inception to July 14, 2020. Measuring tools of diagnostic performance including sensitivity, specificity, and diagnostic odds ratio were pooled using bivariate mixed-effects meta-analysis model. The summery receiver operator characteristic curves were plotted. RESULTS: The result from Oncomine showed that the expression of interleukin 6 in gastric cancer (GC) patients was higher than the normal groups (P < .05). Furthermore, a total of 4 eligible articles were enrolled, containing 390 cases and 404 controls. The diagnostic results were as follows: a sensitivity of 0.80 (95% confidence interval [CI] 0.57–0.92), a specificity of 0.86 (95% CI 0.74–0.93), a positive likelihood ratio of 5.76 (95% CI 3.49–9.49), a negative likelihood ratio of 0.23 (95% CI 0.11–0.51) and a diagnostic odds ratio of 24.58 (95% CI 14.14–42.73). The summary area under the receiver operating characteristic curves was 0.90 (95% CI 0.87–0.93). CONCLUSION: Higher interleukin 6 expression was detected in GC patients, and interleukin 6 could be a helpful indicator of diagnosis of gastric cancer. Further large-scale prospective studies are required for identifying the diagnostic value of interleukin 6 in gastric cancer.