title: TP53 mutation is associated with a poor outcome for patients with hepatocellular carcinoma: evidence from a meta-analysis.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Various studies examined the relationship between p53 mutation with the clinical outcome in patients with hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC), but yielded conflicting results.
  
  
  METHODS
  Electronic databases updated to July 2013 were searched to find relevant studies. A meta-analysis was conducted with eligible studies which quantitatively evaluated the relationship between p53 mutation and survival of patients with HCC. Survival data were aggregated and quantitatively analyzed.
  
  
  RESULTS
  We performed a meta-analysis of 9 studies that evaluated the correlation between p53 mutation and survival in patients with HCC. Combined hazard ratios suggested that p53 mutation had an unfavorable impact on overall survival (OS) [hazard ratio (HR) =1.46, 95% confidence interval (CI): 1.15-1.76], and disease free survival (DFS) (HR =2.57, 95% CI: 1.46-3.68) in patients with HCC. The significant heterogeneity (P=0.035) was observed among 8 studies for OS, however no significant heterogeneity (P=0.597) was observed among 5 studies for DFS.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  p53 mutation indicates a poor prognosis for patients with hepatocellular carcinoma.
authors.affiliation: First Department of Respiratory Medicine, Nanjing Chest Hospital, Nanjing 210029, China; ; The Collaborative Research (CORE) Group, Sydney, Australia;
authors.forename: Ping
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Zhan
authors.affiliation: Jiangsu Province Hospital of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Nanjing 210029, China.
authors.forename: Ya-Nan
authors.initials: YN
authors.lastname: Ji
authors.affiliation: First Department of Respiratory Medicine, Nanjing Chest Hospital, Nanjing 210029, China;
authors.forename: Li-Ke
authors.initials: LK
authors.lastname: Yu
keywords: Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC); meta-analysis; mutation; p53; survival