title: MicroRNAs as a Novel Class of Diagnostic Biomarkers in Detection of Oral Carcinoma: a Meta-Analysis Study.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Recent studies have highlighted the potential diagnostic values of microRNAs (miRNA) in various cancers involving oral cancer. This meta-analysis sought to summarize the global diagnostic accuracy of miRNAs for patients with oral cancer (OC).
  
  
  METHODS
  A systematic review of multiple databases was performed to obtain original studies fulfilling search criteria and the quality of studies was assessed by the QUADAS tool. The bivariate meta-analysis model was employed to plot the summary receiver operator characteristic (SROC) curve. Influence analysis, meta-regression, and publication bias assay were all conducted using Stata 12.0 software. The trim-fill adjustment method was used to further assess the possible effect of publication bias.
  
  
  RESULTS
  A total of 8 studies were included. The SROC analysis showed that miRNA profiling allowed for the discrimination between patients with high-risk oral lesions (OC or pre-cancer) and healthy donors, with a sensitivity of 0.84 (95% CI: 0.78-0.88) and specificity of 0.83 (95% CI: 0.78-0.87), corresponding to an area under curve (AUC) of 0.90. Our subgroup analyses suggested that miRNA signature harbored higher accuracy in diagnosing oral squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC) than pre-cancer lesions (AUC, sensitivity, and specificity of 0.90, 0.83, or 0.82, respectively). Moreover, stratified analyses revealed that parallel miRNA profiling, plasma- and Caucasian-based analyses all conferred promising accuracies for OC detection. The funnel plot assay manifested evidence of a publication bias. After the adjustment by the trim and fill method, the pooled adjusted efforts were slightly attenuated.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  MiRNA profiles hallmark a potential diagnostic value for detection of OC and potentially malignant disorders. Further studies should be performed to rigorously evaluate the diagnostic accuracy of miRNA profiling for OC.
authors.forename: Ni
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Lin
authors.forename: Yazhen
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Lin
authors.forename: Xiaodan
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Fu
authors.forename: Chuncai
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Wu
authors.forename: Jianping
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Xu
authors.forename: Zhaolei
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Cui
authors.forename: Donghong
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Lin
mesh_terms: D014408:Biomarkers, Tumor; D002294:Carcinoma, Squamous Cell / Q000175:diagnosis; D006801:Humans; D035683:MicroRNAs / Q000032:analysis*; D009062:Mouth Neoplasms / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000235:genetics; D017594:Publication Bias; D012372:ROC Curve
chemical_list: D014408:Biomarkers, Tumor; D035683:MicroRNAs