title: Prognostic Role of Phospho-STAT3 in Patients with Cancers of the Digestive System: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  The definite prognostic role of p-STAT3 has not been well defined. We performed a meta-analysis evaluating the prognostic role of p-STAT3 expression in patients with digestive system cancers.
  
  
  METHODS
  We searched the available articles reporting the prognostic value of p-STAT3 in patients with cancers of the digestive system, mainly including colorectal cancer, gastric cancer, hepatocellular carcinoma, esophagus cancer and pancreatic cancer. The pooled hazard ratios (HRs) with 95 % confidence intervals (95 % CIs) of overall survival (OS) and disease-free survival (DFS) were used to assess the prognostic role of p-STAT3 expression level in cancer tissues. And the association between p-STAT3 expression and clinicopathological characteristics was evaluated.
  
  
  RESULTS
  A total of 22 studies with 3585 patients were finally enrolled in the meta-analysis. The results showed that elevated p-STAT3 expression level predicted inferior OS (HR = 1.809, 95% CI: 1.442-2.270, P < 0.001) and DFS (HR = 1.481, 95% CI: 1.028-2.133, P = 0.035) in patients with malignant cancers of the digestive system. Increased expression of p-STAT3 is significantly related with tumor cell differentiation (Odds ratio (OR) = 1.895, 95% CI: 1.364-2.632, P < 0.001) and lymph node metastases (OR = 2.108, 95% CI: 1.104-4.024, P = 0.024). Sensitivity analysis suggested that the pooled HR was stable and omitting a single study did not change the significance of the pooled HR. Funnel plots and Egger's tests revealed there was no significant publication bias in the meta-analysis.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Phospho-STAT3 might be a prognostic factor of patients with digestive system cancers. More well designed studies with adequate follow-up are needed to gain a thorough understanding of the prognostic role of p-STAT3.
authors.affiliation: Department of Abdominal Surgical Oncology, Cancer Hospital, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences and Peking Union Medical College (CAMS & PUMC), NO.17, Panjiayuan Nanli, Beijing, 100021, P. R. China.
authors.forename: Mu-xing
authors.initials: MX
authors.lastname: Li
authors.affiliation: Department of Abdominal Surgical Oncology, Cancer Hospital, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences and Peking Union Medical College (CAMS & PUMC), NO.17, Panjiayuan Nanli, Beijing, 100021, P. R. China.
authors.forename: Xin-yu
authors.initials: XY
authors.lastname: Bi
authors.affiliation: Department of Abdominal Surgical Oncology, Cancer Hospital, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences and Peking Union Medical College (CAMS & PUMC), NO.17, Panjiayuan Nanli, Beijing, 100021, P. R. China.
authors.forename: Zhen
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Huang
authors.affiliation: Department of Abdominal Surgical Oncology, Cancer Hospital, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences and Peking Union Medical College (CAMS & PUMC), NO.17, Panjiayuan Nanli, Beijing, 100021, P. R. China.
authors.forename: Jian-jun
authors.initials: JJ
authors.lastname: Zhao
authors.affiliation: Department of Radiofrequency Ablation, Cancer Hospital, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences and Peking Union Medical College (CAMS & PUMC), NO.17, Panjiayuan Nanli, Beijing, 100021, P. R. China.
authors.forename: Yue
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Han
authors.affiliation: Department of Abdominal Surgical Oncology, Cancer Hospital, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences and Peking Union Medical College (CAMS & PUMC), NO.17, Panjiayuan Nanli, Beijing, 100021, P. R. China.
authors.forename: Zhi-Yu
authors.initials: ZY
authors.lastname: Li
authors.affiliation: Department of Abdominal Surgical Oncology, Cancer Hospital, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences and Peking Union Medical College (CAMS & PUMC), NO.17, Panjiayuan Nanli, Beijing, 100021, P. R. China.
authors.forename: Ye-fan
authors.initials: YF
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.affiliation: Department of Abdominal Surgical Oncology, Cancer Hospital, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences and Peking Union Medical College (CAMS & PUMC), NO.17, Panjiayuan Nanli, Beijing, 100021, P. R. China.
authors.forename: Yuan
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Li
authors.affiliation: Department of Abdominal Surgical Oncology, Cancer Hospital, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences and Peking Union Medical College (CAMS & PUMC), NO.17, Panjiayuan Nanli, Beijing, 100021, P. R. China.
authors.forename: Xiao
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.affiliation: Department of Abdominal Surgical Oncology, Cancer Hospital, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences and Peking Union Medical College (CAMS & PUMC), NO.17, Panjiayuan Nanli, Beijing, 100021, P. R. China.
authors.forename: Xu-hui
authors.initials: XH
authors.lastname: Hu
authors.affiliation: Department of Abdominal Surgical Oncology, Cancer Hospital, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences and Peking Union Medical College (CAMS & PUMC), NO.17, Panjiayuan Nanli, Beijing, 100021, P. R. China.
authors.forename: Hong
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Zhao
authors.affiliation: Department of Abdominal Surgical Oncology, Cancer Hospital, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences and Peking Union Medical College (CAMS & PUMC), NO.17, Panjiayuan Nanli, Beijing, 100021, P. R. China.
authors.forename: Jian-qiang
authors.initials: JQ
authors.lastname: Cai
mesh_terms: D004067:Digestive System Neoplasms / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000401:mortality*; D018572:Disease-Free Survival; D005260:Female; D015972:Gene Expression Regulation, Neoplastic; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D010750:Phosphoproteins / Q000096:biosynthesis* / Q000235:genetics; D050796:STAT3 Transcription Factor / Q000096:biosynthesis* / Q000235:genetics; D015996:Survival Rate
chemical_list: D010750:Phosphoproteins; D050796:STAT3 Transcription Factor; C494086:STAT3 protein, human