title: Relationship of Oct-4 to malignant stage: a meta-analysis based on 502 positive/high Oct-4 cases and 522 negative/low case-free controls.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Octamer 4 (Oct-4), an important member of the POU domain transcription factor family, has been suggested to function as a master switch during differentiation of human somatic cells and more recently has come to be linked with neoplastic properties. The aim of this study was to evaluate the relationship between Oct-4 and cancer stage using a meta-analysis approach.
  
  
  METHODS
  Relevant articles published as of May 2015 were retrieved from the following databases: PubMed, ISI Web of Knowledge, Embase, and Chinese National Knowledge Infrastructure (CNKI). The strengths of relationship for outcomes of interest were estimated based on odds ratios (ORs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs).
  
  
  RESULTS
  A total of 11 articles on Oct-4 and cancer staging that collectively included 502 positive/high Oct-4 cases and 522 negative/low case-free controls were chosen. Positive/high Oct-4 was significantly associated with cancer stage in several kinds of cancer. Specifically, positive/high Oct-4 was associated with cancer stage III/IV (fixed effects: OR = 1.53, 95% CI = 1.12-2.10), primary tumor (T3-4) (random effects: OR = 1.93, 95% CI = 0.99-3.77), and cancer grade of differentiation (intermediate-poor) (random effects: OR = 3.45, 95% CI = 1.5-7.61).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  These findings suggest that positive/high Oct-4 is more strongly linked to stage III/IV cancer and cancer grade of differentiation, and is correlated with malignant characteristics that lead to poor prognosis in different types of cancer, especially in Asian. Given variability related to ethnicity and differences in cancer types, additional studies are warranted to establish the generalizability of our findings.
authors.affiliation: Department of Thoracic Surgery, The Fifth Affiliated Hospital, Sun Yat-sen University, Zhuhai, Guangdong 519000, China.
authors.forename: Beilong
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Zhong
authors.affiliation: Department of Breast Disease, Peking Union Medical College Hospital, Peking Union Medical College, Beijing 100730, China.
authors.forename: Yan
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Lin
authors.affiliation: Department of Pathology, The First Affiliated Hospital, Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou, Guangdong 510080, China.
authors.forename: Yingrong
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Lai
authors.affiliation: Department of Pediatrics, The Fifth Affiliated Hospital, Sun Yat-sen University, Zhuhai, Guangdong 519000, China.
authors.forename: Fangfang
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Zheng
authors.affiliation: Department of Respiratory Medicine, The Fifth Affiliated Hospital, Sun Yat-sen University, Zhuhai, Guangdong 519000, China.
authors.forename: Xiaobin
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Zheng
authors.affiliation: Department of Clinical Laboratory, The Fifth Affiliated Hospital, Sun Yat-sen University, Zhuhai, Guangdong 519000, China.
authors.forename: Rijiao
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Huang
authors.affiliation: Department of Cardiothoracic Surgery of East Division, The First Affiliated Hospital, Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou, Guangdong 510080, China.
authors.forename: Weilin
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Yang
authors.affiliation: Department of Cardiothoracic Surgery of East Division, The First Affiliated Hospital, Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou, Guangdong 510080, China.|Department of Thoracic Surgery, The First Affiliated Hospital, Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou, Guangdong 510080, China.|Lung Cancer Research Center of Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou, Guangdong 510080, China.
authors.forename: Zhenguang
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Chen
mesh_terms: D016022:Case-Control Studies; D002454:Cell Differentiation; D006801:Humans; D060787:Neoplasm Grading; D009369:Neoplasms / Q000235:genetics* / Q000473:pathology*; D050814:Octamer Transcription Factor-3 / Q000235:genetics*; D011379:Prognosis
chemical_list: D050814:Octamer Transcription Factor-3; C494173:POU5F1 protein, human
keywords: Oct-4; TNM staging; cancer grade of differentiation; cancer staging; meta-analysis