title: Clinicopathologic characteristics of patients with ROS1 fusion gene in non-small cell lung cancer: a meta-analysis.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  The receptor tyrosine kinase ROS1 is a driver gene in the non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) with promising target treatment potential. The clinical features of NSCLC patients harboring ROS1 fusion gene were not fully understood due to small-to-modest sample sizes of these association studies.
  
  
  METHODS
  We systematically searched PubMed, EMBASE, and the Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials (CENTRAL) from their inception to March 31, 2015. We analyzed the association between ROS1 fusion genes and four common clinical variables, i.e., gender, smoking status, pathological type and clinical stage.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Eighteen studies consisting of 9,898 NSCLC patients were included in this meta-analysis. Pooled results showed that significantly higher rate of ROS1 fusion gene was detected in female NSCLC patients (OR =1.54, 95% CI: 1.02-2.34, P=0.042), patients without a smoking history (OR =3.27, 95% CI: 1.44-7.45, P=0.005), patients with adenocarcinomas NSCLC (OR =10.24, 95% CI: 5.13-20.40, P<0.001), and patients with an advanced clinical stages III-IV (OR =2.57, 95% CI: 1.78-3.71, P<0.001). The pooled prevalence of ROS1 fusion gene was 2.4% (95% CI: 1.8-3.1%) in adenocarcinoma and a significantly lower (0.2%) in non-adenocarcinoma tumors.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  ROS1 rearrangement was more prevalent in female patients, patients without a smoking history, patients with adenocarcinoma, and patients on more advanced stages (stages III to IV).
authors.affiliation: 1 Department of Respiratory Medicine, Jinling Hospital, Nanjing University School of Medical, Nanjing 210002, China ; 2 Department of Cardiology, Drum Tower Hospital, Nanjing University School of Medical, Nanjing 210002, China.
authors.forename: Qingqing
authors.initials: Q
authors.lastname: Zhu
authors.affiliation: 1 Department of Respiratory Medicine, Jinling Hospital, Nanjing University School of Medical, Nanjing 210002, China ; 2 Department of Cardiology, Drum Tower Hospital, Nanjing University School of Medical, Nanjing 210002, China.
authors.forename: Ping
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Zhan
authors.affiliation: 1 Department of Respiratory Medicine, Jinling Hospital, Nanjing University School of Medical, Nanjing 210002, China ; 2 Department of Cardiology, Drum Tower Hospital, Nanjing University School of Medical, Nanjing 210002, China.
authors.forename: Xinlin
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.affiliation: 1 Department of Respiratory Medicine, Jinling Hospital, Nanjing University School of Medical, Nanjing 210002, China ; 2 Department of Cardiology, Drum Tower Hospital, Nanjing University School of Medical, Nanjing 210002, China.
authors.forename: Tangfeng
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Lv
authors.affiliation: 1 Department of Respiratory Medicine, Jinling Hospital, Nanjing University School of Medical, Nanjing 210002, China ; 2 Department of Cardiology, Drum Tower Hospital, Nanjing University School of Medical, Nanjing 210002, China.
authors.forename: Yong
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Song
keywords: ROS1; clinicopathologic features; meta-analysis; non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC)