Relationship between the upregulation of Notch1 signaling and the clinical characteristics of patients with papillary thyroid carcinoma in East Asia: a systematic review and meta-analysis

Libing Yuan†,
Lei Ma†,
Haibo Xue†Email author View ORCID ID profile and
Shoujun Song

†Contributed equally

Cancer Cell International201919:5

https://doi.org/10.1186/s12935-018-0723-8

Received: 13 October 2018
Accepted: 30 December 2018
Published: 3 January 2019

Abstract

Background

Many studies have aimed to clarify the relationship between Notch1 signaling and papillary thyroid carcinoma (PTC), but the results have been inconsistent to date. In the present study, a systematic review and meta-analysis were performed to analyze the relationship between Notch1 signaling and the clinical characteristics of PTC.

Methods

Literature databases, including PubMed (Medline), Embase and China National Knowledge Infrastructure, were searched for relevant studies from inception to April 2018. A total of five studies, including 421 patients with PTC from China and South Korea, were included in the meta-analysis.

Results

The results revealed that the upregulation of Notch1 signaling was positively correlated with lymph node metastasis in patients with PTC (OR = 3.25, 95% CI 1.14–9.23, P = 0.03). Additionally, positive correlations were found between Notch1 signaling and tumor size (OR = 4.34, 95% CI 1.66–11.38, P = 0.003), capsular invasion (OR = 3.49, 95% CI 1.90–6.41, P < 0.0001) and clinical stage of PTC (OR = 2.31, 95% CI 1.05–5.11, P = 0.04).

Conclusions

The Notch1 signaling pathway may play a catalytic role in the progression of PTC, and upregulation of Notch1 signaling may have significant predictive value for the clinical prognosis of PTC.