Prognostic role of YB-1 expression in breast cancer: a meta-analysis

Abstract

Objective: In published studies, Y-box binding protein-1 (YB-1) correlated with the prognosis of patients with breast cancer (BC), but the specific role of YB-1 is still unclear. Our study aimed to evaluate the prognostic value of YB-1 in BC patients using meta-analysis based on the published studies.

Methods: We searched the relevant literatures deadline for June 2014 in databases, including PubMed, Embase, Medline and Cochrane library, and finally 8 studies were included in our study. Our study contained 1094 BC patients with 398 YB-1 positive and 696 YB-1 negative.

Results: Our results showed that YB-1 abnormal expression did not correlated with the lymph node status [OR = 1.258, 95% CI = 0.895-1.769, P = 0.186], high histological grade [OR = 2.709, 95% CI = 0.861-8.530, P = 0.089], histological type [OR = 0.837, 95% CI = 0.526-1.331, P = 0.452], P53 status [OR = 2.006, 95% CI 0.686-5.865, P = 0.203] and PR [OR = 0.607, 95% CI = 0.347-1.061, P = 0.080] in BC patients. But YB-1 over-expression was associated with other unfavorable factors: ER negativity [OR = 0.604, 95% CI = 0.388-0.941, P = 0.026], HER2 positivity [OR = 3.841, 95% CI = 2.637-5.594, P = 0.000], and high tumorous T stage [OR = 2.169, 95% CI = 1.295-3.632, P = 0.003]. In addition, our data suggested that high YB-1 expression had an adverse impact on 5-year OS [RR = 2.767, 95% CI = 2.054-3.727, P = 0.000] in BC patients.

Conclusions: Our findings implied that YB-1 might a novel biomarker to predict the prognosis of BC, and could be a potential direction for developing diagnostic and therapeutic approaches in BC.

Keywords: YB-1; breast cancer; meta-analysis; prognosis.

Figure 1

Flow diagram showing inclusion and exclusion of studies.

Figure 2

Forrest plot of ORs for the association of YB-1 expression with the (A) ER status; (B) HER2 status; (C) tumorous T stage.

Figure 3

Forrest plot of ORs for the association of YB-1 expression with the (A) lymph node status; (B) histological grade; (C) histological type.

Figure 4

Forrest plot of ORs or RRs for the association of YB-1 expression with the (A) P₅₃ status; (B) PR status (C); Overall survival rate.

Figure 5

Sensitivity analyses of all the studies. (A: ER status; B: HER2 status; C: Tumorous T stage; D: Lymph node status; E: Histological grade; F: Histological type; G: P₅₃ status; H: PR status; I: Overall survival rate).

Figure 6

Funnel plots for publication bias. All the graphical funnel plots appeared to be symmetrical. (A: ER status; B: HER2 status; C: Tumorous T stage; D: Lymph node status; E: Histological grade; F: Histological type; G: P₅₃ status; H: PR status; I: Overall survival rate).