title: Diagnostic role of circulating YKL-40 in endometrial carcinoma patients: a meta-analysis of seven related studies.
abstract: In the past decade, several studies have suggested a possible link between circulating YKL-40 levels and endometrial carcinoma (EC), but have arrived at inconsistent results. Therefore, we conducted the present meta-analysis and aim to disclose a more comprehensive evaluation of the sensitivity, specificity, and diagnostic accuracy of YKL-40 in EC. We systematically searched PubMed, Embase, Web of Science, Science Direct, SpringerLink, EBSCO, Wanfang, and Chinese National Knowledge Infrastructure databases for studies that evaluated the diagnostic value of YKL-40 in endometrial cancer. The STATA software 12.0 and Meta-Disc software were used to test the heterogeneity and to evaluate the overall test performance. A total of seven studies including 234 EC cases and 300 controls were included in our meta-analysis. The summary estimates of YKL-40 for EC diagnosis indicated a moderately high diagnostic accuracy for circulating YKL-40, with a sensitivity of 0.74, a specificity of 0.87, a PLR of 5.74, a NLR of 0.30, a DOR of 19.14, and an AUC of 0.80. On the basis of our meta-analysis, therefore, circulating YKL-40 could be promising and meaningful in the diagnosis of EC.
authors.affiliation: Department of Transfusion, The First Hospital of China Medical University, North Nanjing Street, No. 155, Shenyang, People's Republic of China, dayechengcmu@163.com.
authors.forename: Daye
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Cheng
authors.forename: Ying
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Sun
authors.forename: Hu
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: He
mesh_terms: D054392:Adipokines / Q000097:blood*; D019540:Area Under Curve; D014408:Biomarkers, Tumor / Q000097:blood; D000071451:Chitinase-3-Like Protein 1; D016889:Endometrial Neoplasms / Q000175:diagnosis*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D037102:Lectins / Q000097:blood*; D017594:Publication Bias; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity
chemical_list: D054392:Adipokines; D014408:Biomarkers, Tumor; C084533:CHI3L1 protein, human; D000071451:Chitinase-3-Like Protein 1; D037102:Lectins