title: Accuracy of microRNAs for the diagnosis of hepatocellular carcinoma: A systematic review and meta-analysis.
abstract: Due to the high morbidity, mortality and late detection of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC), it becomes a major public health challenge. MicroRNAs (miRNAs) have been reported to be aberrantly expressed in patients with HCC and thus may serve as potential diagnostic biomarkers. The aim of this study was to systematically assess the diagnostic accuracy of miRNAs as biomarkers for diagnosing HCC through a meta-analysis. Our results indicated that serum miRNAs had a relatively high diagnostic value for HCC diagnosis; the combination of serum α-fetoprotein (AFP) and miRNAs displayed a better diagnostic accuracy than using AFP or miRNAs alone; the combination of multiple miRNAs assay in serum had the highest diagnostic accuracy in HCC diagnosis based on the published data. In conclusion, our meta-analysis suggests that miRNAs, especially serum miRNAs, had a relatively high diagnostic value for HCC diagnosis, which can discriminate HCC from healthy subjects and those with chronic hepatitis and cirrhosis easily, and may serve as a novel, less-invasive screening tool.
authors.affiliation: Maanshan Center for Clinical Laboratory, Maanshan Municipal Hospital Group, 45, Hubei Road, Maanshan 243000, China. Electronic address: jarm190@163.com.
authors.forename: Song
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: He
authors.affiliation: Maanshan Center for Clinical Laboratory, Maanshan Municipal Hospital Group, 45, Hubei Road, Maanshan 243000, China.
authors.forename: Xiao-Wu
authors.initials: XW
authors.lastname: Hu
authors.affiliation: Maanshan Center for Clinical Laboratory, Maanshan Municipal Hospital Group, 45, Hubei Road, Maanshan 243000, China.
authors.forename: Dong
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.affiliation: Maanshan Center for Clinical Laboratory, Maanshan Municipal Hospital Group, 45, Hubei Road, Maanshan 243000, China.
authors.forename: Ling-Fei
authors.initials: LF
authors.lastname: Han
authors.affiliation: Molecular Medicine & Tumor Research Center, Chongqing Medical University, Chongqing 400016, China.
authors.forename: De-Chun
authors.initials: DC
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.affiliation: Maanshan Center for Clinical Laboratory, Maanshan Municipal Hospital Group, 45, Hubei Road, Maanshan 243000, China.
authors.forename: Cheng
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Wei
mesh_terms: D014408:Biomarkers, Tumor / Q000097:blood; D006528:Carcinoma, Hepatocellular / Q000097:blood / Q000175:diagnosis*; D006801:Humans; D008113:Liver Neoplasms / Q000097:blood / Q000175:diagnosis*; D035683:MicroRNAs / Q000097:blood*; D000509:alpha-Fetoproteins / Q000032:analysis
chemical_list: D014408:Biomarkers, Tumor; D035683:MicroRNAs; D000509:alpha-Fetoproteins