title: Clinicopathological significance of SMAD4 loss in pancreatic ductal adenocarcinomas: a systematic review and meta-analysis.
abstract: Pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC) is one of the leading causes of cancer mortality. Although advances have been made in understanding the pathogenesis of PDAC, the outcome still remains poor. The aim of this study is to conduct a meta-analysis to evaluate the precise association between SMAD4 loss and clinicopathological significance in PDAC. A literature search was made in PubMed, Web of Science, Google scholar, and EMBASE for related publications. The data were extracted and assessed by two reviewers independently. Analysis of pooled data was performed, Odds Ratio or Hazard Ratio with corresponding confidence intervals was calculated and summarized. 12 relevant articles were included for full review in detail and meta-analysis. The frequency of SMAD4 protein loss was significantly increased in PDAC than in nonmalignant pancreatic tissue, Odd Ratio was 0.05 with 95% confidence interval 0.01-0.23, p<0.0001. SMAD4 loss was significantly associated with poor overall survival in patients with PDAC, Hazard Ratio was 0.61 with 95% confidence interval 0.38-0.99, p=0.05. SMAD4 loss was not correlated with the size, grades, and lymph node metastasis of PDAC. In conclusion, SMAD4 is a biomarker for the diagnosis of PDAC. SMAD4 loss is significantly related to poor prognosis in patients with PDAC.
authors.affiliation: Department of Gastrointestinal Surgery, Shaoxing People's Hospital, Shaoxing Hospital of Zhejiang University, Shaoxing City, Zhejiang Province, China.
authors.forename: Jin-Dao
authors.initials: JD
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.affiliation: Department of Gastrointestinal Surgery, Shaoxing People's Hospital, Shaoxing Hospital of Zhejiang University, Shaoxing City, Zhejiang Province, China.
authors.forename: Ketao
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Jin
authors.affiliation: Psychosomatic Second Division, Shaoxing 7th People's Hospital, Shaoxing City, Zhejiang Province, China.
authors.forename: Xiao-Ying
authors.initials: XY
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.affiliation: Department of Gastrointestinal Surgery, Shaoxing People's Hospital, Shaoxing Hospital of Zhejiang University, Shaoxing City, Zhejiang Province, China.
authors.forename: Jie-Qing
authors.initials: JQ
authors.lastname: Lv
authors.affiliation: Department of Gastrointestinal Surgery, Shaoxing People's Hospital, Shaoxing Hospital of Zhejiang University, Shaoxing City, Zhejiang Province, China.
authors.forename: Ke-Wei
authors.initials: KW
authors.lastname: Ji
mesh_terms: D000230:Adenocarcinoma / Q000235:genetics* / Q000473:pathology; D021441:Carcinoma, Pancreatic Ductal / Q000235:genetics* / Q000473:pathology; D006801:Humans; D010190:Pancreatic Neoplasms / Q000235:genetics* / Q000473:pathology; D051901:Smad4 Protein / Q000172:deficiency* / Q000235:genetics
chemical_list: C497796:SMAD4 protein, human; D051901:Smad4 Protein
keywords: DPC4; PDAC; SMAD4; diagnosis; prognosis