title: Meta-Analysis of Circulating Endothelial Cells and Circulating Endothelial Progenitor Cells as Prognostic Factors in Lung Cancer.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  The aim of this study was to analyze the prognostic implications of pretreatment circulating endothelial cells (CECs) and circulating endothelial progenitor cells (CEPCs) for the survival of patients with lung cancer.
  
  
  METHODS
  Relevant literature was identified using Medline and EMBASE. Patient clinical characteristics, overall survival (OS) and progression-free survival (PFS) together with CEC and CEPC positive rates before treatment were extracted. STATA 12.0 was used for our analysis and assessment of publication bias.
  
  
  RESULTS
  A total of 13 articles (8 for CEC and 5 for CEPC, n=595 and n=244) were pooled for the global meta-analysis. The odds ratio (OR) for OS predicted by pretreatment CECs was 1.641 [0.967, 2.786], while the OR for PFS was 1.168 [0.649, 2.100]. The OR for OS predicted by pretreatment CEPCs was 12.673 [5.274, 30.450], while the OR for PFS was 4.930 [0.931, 26.096]. Subgroup analyses were conducted according to clinical staging. Odds ratio (OR) showed the high level of pretreatment CECs only correlated with the OS of patients with advanced lung cancer (stage III-IV).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  High counts of CECs seem to be associated only with worse 1-year OS in patients with lung cancer, while high level of pretreatment CEPCs correlate with both worse PFS and OS.
authors: Department of Oncology, The First Affiliated Hospital of Chongqing Medical University, Chongqing, China E-mail : yuminanni70@sina.com.
authors: Min
authors: M
authors: Yu
authors: Hai-Tao
authors: HT
authors: Men
authors: Zhi-Min
authors: ZM
authors: Niu
authors: Yu-Xi
authors: YX
authors: Zhu
authors: Ben-Xu
authors: BX
authors: Tan
authors: Long-Hao
authors: LH
authors: Li
authors: Juan
authors: J
authors: Jiang
mesh_terms: D014408:Biomarkers, Tumor / Q000097:blood*; D003131:Combined Modality Therapy; D066026:Endothelial Progenitor Cells / Q000473:pathology*; D006801:Humans; D008175:Lung Neoplasms / Q000097:blood* / Q000401:mortality* / Q000473:pathology / Q000628:therapy; D009360:Neoplastic Cells, Circulating / Q000473:pathology*; D011379:Prognosis; D015996:Survival Rate
chemical_list: D014408:Biomarkers, Tumor