title: Serum microRNA-21 as a diagnostic marker for lung carcinoma: a systematic review and meta-analysis.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  MicroRNA-21 in serum is a promising marker for the diagnosis of lung carcinoma. A meta-analysis was performed to assess the diagnostic accuracy and clinical value of serum microRNA-21 in patients with lung carcinoma.
  
  
  METHODS
  PubMed, EMBASE, Web of Knowledge (ISI), the Cochrane Library, Scopus, BioMed Central, Science Direct, China National Knowledge Infrastructure (CNKI), Wan Fang data and Technology of Chongqing (VIP) databases were searched to identify studies in English and Chinese that assessed the diagnostic value of serum miR-21 for lung carcinoma, from inception to 9 April 2014. Two independent investigators identified and extracted the study characteristics from all articles according to defined inclusion and exclusion criteria. Quality assessment of diagnostic accuracy studies (QUADAS) was used to score the quality of the eligible studies. Stata12 and Meta-DiSc software were used to test the heterogeneity and to perform the meta-analysis.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Our search returned 1008 articles, of which seven fulfilled the inclusion criteria, accounting for 500 patients and 386 controls. Using random-effect model analysis, the summary assessments revealed that the mean sensitivity was 0.71% (95%CI: 57-82%) and specificity was 0.84% (95%CI: 76-89%). The area under the receiver operating characteristic curve was 0.86 (95%CI: 0.83-0.89). In addition, heterogeneity was clearly apparent but was not caused by the threshold effect, as shown by Meta-DiSc analysis.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The current evidence suggests that serum miR-21 can be rapidly measured in lung carcinoma patients and has potential diagnostic value with moderate sensitivity and specificity. Further prospective studies to assess the early stage diagnostic value are needed in the future.
authors.affiliation: Department of Pathogenic Biology, Chong Qing Medical University, Chongqing, People's Republic of China.
authors.forename: Xiaorong
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Yang
authors.affiliation: Department of Pathogenic Biology, Chong Qing Medical University, Chongqing, People's Republic of China.
authors.forename: Yanan
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Guo
authors.affiliation: Department of Pathogenic Biology, Chong Qing Medical University, Chongqing, People's Republic of China.
authors.forename: Yane
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Du
authors.affiliation: Department of Pathogenic Biology, Chong Qing Medical University, Chongqing, People's Republic of China.
authors.forename: Jinmei
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Yang
authors.affiliation: Department of Pathogenic Biology, Chong Qing Medical University, Chongqing, People's Republic of China.
authors.forename: Shichao
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Li
authors.affiliation: Department of Pathogenic Biology, Chong Qing Medical University, Chongqing, People's Republic of China.
authors.forename: Shengnan
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.affiliation: Department of Pathogenic Biology, Chong Qing Medical University, Chongqing, People's Republic of China.
authors.forename: Ke
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Li
authors.affiliation: Department of Pathogenic Biology, Chong Qing Medical University, Chongqing, People's Republic of China.
authors.forename: Dechun
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Zhang
mesh_terms: D014408:Biomarkers, Tumor / Q000097:blood / Q000235:genetics*; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D006801:Humans; D008175:Lung Neoplasms / Q000097:blood / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000235:genetics*; D035683:MicroRNAs / Q000097:blood / Q000235:genetics*; D011379:Prognosis; D012372:ROC Curve
chemical_list: D014408:Biomarkers, Tumor; C524940:MIRN21 microRNA, human; D035683:MicroRNAs