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Review
. 2020 Jun 8;4(5):pkaa050.
doi: 10.1093/jncics/pkaa050. eCollection 2020 Oct.

Systematic Review and STARD Scoring of Renal Cell Carcinoma Circulating Diagnostic Biomarker Manuscripts

Marco A J Iafolla  1   2   3 , Sarah Picardo  1   2 , Kyaw Aung  1   2   4 , Aaron R Hansen  1   2
Affiliations
Review

Systematic Review and STARD Scoring of Renal Cell Carcinoma Circulating Diagnostic Biomarker Manuscripts

Marco A J Iafolla et al. JNCI Cancer Spectr. .

Abstract

Background: No validated molecular biomarkers exist to help guide diagnosis of renal cell carcinoma (RCC) patients. We seek to evaluate the quality of published RCC circulating diagnostic biomarker manuscripts using the Standards for Reporting of Diagnostic Accuracy Studies (STARD) guidelines.

Methods: The phrase "(renal cell carcinoma OR renal cancer OR kidney cancer OR kidney carcinoma) AND circulating AND (biomarkers OR cell free DNA OR tumor DNA OR methylated cell free DNA OR methylated tumor DNA)" was searched in Embase, MEDLINE, and PubMed in March 2018. Relevant manuscripts were scored using 41 STARD subcriteria for a maximal score of 26 points. All tests of statistical significance were 2 sided.

Results: The search identified 535 publications: 27 manuscripts of primary research were analyzed. The median STARD score was 11.5 (range = 7-16.75). All manuscripts had appropriate abstracts, introductions, and distribution of alternative diagnoses. None of the manuscripts stated how indeterminant data were handled or if adverse events occurred from performing the index test or reference standard. Statistically significantly higher STARD scores were present in manuscripts reporting receiver operator characteristic curves (P < .001), larger sample sizes (P = .007), and after release of the original STARD statement (P = .005).

Conclusions: Most RCC circulating diagnostic biomarker manuscripts poorly adhere to the STARD guidelines. Future studies adhering to STARD guidelines may address this unmet need.

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Figures

Figure 1.
Figure 1.
Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Review and Meta-analysis (PRISMA) flow diagram depicting the results from the literature search and subclassification into 1 of 3 categories: publications examining renal cell carcinoma (RCC) circulating diagnostic biomarkers, publications unclear if examining RCC circulating diagnostic biomarkers, and publications not examining RCC circulating diagnostic biomarkers. Only manuscripts that examined RCC circulating diagnostic biomarkers were subjected to Standards for Reporting of Diagnostic Accuracy Studies (STARD) appraisal.
Figure 2.
Figure 2.
Histogram depiction of the Standards for Reporting of Diagnostic Accuracy Studies (STARD) scores from relevant renal cell carcinoma (RCC) circulating diagnostic biomarker manuscripts identified in this study. The maximal STARD score was 26.
Figure 3.
Figure 3.
Beeswarm plot representation of categorical statistically significant associations with Standards for Reporting of Diagnostic Accuracy Studies (STARD) scores: (A) continent of corresponding author, (B) publishing a receiver operator characteristic curve, (C) manuscripts published before the year 2003, (D) manuscripts published after the year 2005, and (E) manuscripts published after the year 2015.
Figure 4.
Figure 4.
Scatterplot representation of renal cell carcinoma (RCC) sample size as a continuous variable with Standards for Reporting of Diagnostic Accuracy Studies (STARD) scores. Sample size of controls was not incorporated into this analysis.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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