title: Association of telomerase reverse transcriptase promoter mutations with clinicopathological features and prognosis of thyroid cancer: a meta-analysis.
abstract: The clinicopathological and prognostic significance of telomerase reverse transcriptase (TERT) promoter mutations have been widely investigated in thyroid cancer; however, the results are still discrepant. Systematic searches were performed in PubMed, Web of Science, Scopus, Ovid, and the Cochran Library databases for relevant articles prior to April 2016. Mutation rates were synthesized by R statistical software. The odds ratio or standardized mean difference with 95% confidence interval was pooled by Stata. A total of 22 studies with 4,907 cases were included in this meta-analysis.TERTpromoter mutations tended to present in aggressive histological types including poorly differentiated thyroid cancer (33.37%), anaplastic thyroid cancer (38.69%), and tall-cell variant papillary thyroid cancer (30.23%). These promoter mutations were likely to exist in older patients and males and were well associated with larger tumor size, extrathyroidal extension, vascular invasion, lymph node metastasis, distant metastasis, advanced tumor stage, disease recurrence/persistence, and mortality. In addition,TERTpromoter mutations (especially C228T) tended to coexist withBRAFV600Emutation, which indicated more aggressive tumor behavior. Therefore,TERTpromoter mutations may be promising biomarkers for early diagnosis, risk stratification, prognostic prediction, and management of thyroid cancer.
authors.affiliation: Department of Surgical Oncology.
authors.forename: Xingyun
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Su
authors.affiliation: Department of Surgical Oncology.
authors.forename: Xiaoxia
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Jiang
authors.affiliation: Department of Surgical Oncology.
authors.forename: Weibin
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.affiliation: Department of Surgical Oncology.
authors.forename: Haiyong
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.affiliation: Department of Medical Oncology.
authors.forename: Xin
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Xu
authors.affiliation: Department of Surgical Oncology.
authors.forename: Aihui
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Lin
authors.affiliation: Department of Pathology.
authors.forename: Xiaodong
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Teng
authors.affiliation: Department of Plastic Surgery, First Affiliated Hospital, School of Medicine, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, Zhejiang, People's Republic of China.
authors.forename: Huiling
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Wu
authors.affiliation: Department of Surgical Oncology.
authors.forename: Lisong
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Teng
keywords: BRAFV600E mutation; TERT promoter mutations; clinicopathological features; prognosis; thyroid cancer