title: A meta-analysis on the EBV DNA and VCA-IgA in diagnosis of Nasopharyngeal Carcinoma.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  We conducted a meta-analysis to compare the EBV DNA and VCA-IgA in diagnosis of Nasopharyngeal Carcinoma, and provide important evidence for screening method of NPC.
  
  
  METHODS
  Three databases, Medline (from Jan. 1966 to Jan. 2012), EMBASE (from January 1988 to Jan. 2012) and Chinese Biomedical Database (from January 1980 to Jan. 2012) were used to detect the role of EBV DNA and VCA-IgA in diagnosis of NPC. Meta-DiSc statistical software was used for analysis.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Twenty seven case-control and cohort studies were included in final analysis. A total of 1554 cases and 2932 controls were included in our meta-analysis. The Sensitivity specificity, positive likelihood (+LR) and likelihood negative (-LR) of EBV-DNA in diagnosis of NPC were 0.75(0.72-0.76), 0.87(0.85-0.88), 6.98(4.50-10.83) and 0.18(0.11-0.29), respectively, and they were 0.83(0.81-0.85), 0.85(0.83-0.86), 10.89(5.41-21.93) and 0.20(0.14-0.29) for VCA-IgA. The SROC for EBV DNA detection was 0.939, while this was 0.936 for VCA-IgA detection. The subgroup analysis showed EBV-DNA had larger areas under the summary receiver operator curve when compared with VCA-IgA in high quality and low quality studies.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Our meta-analysis indicated the EBV DNA had higher sensitivity and specificity in diagnosis of NPC.
authors.affiliation: Changxin Song, Department of Computer, Qinghai Normal University, Xining, China.
authors.forename: Changxin
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Song
authors.affiliation: Shujuan Yang, West China School of Public Health, Sichuan University, Chengdu, China.
authors.forename: Shujuan
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Yang
keywords: DNA; Diagnosis; Epstein-Barr virus (EBV); Nasopharyngeal Carcinoma; VCA-IgA