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. 2021 Dec;10(12):5372-5382.
doi: 10.21037/tcr-21-2609.

A systematic review and meta-analysis of indirect comparison between miRNA and ctDNA in diagnosis of epithelial ovarian cancer

Xiaohang Fu  1 , Yani Liu  2
Affiliations

A systematic review and meta-analysis of indirect comparison between miRNA and ctDNA in diagnosis of epithelial ovarian cancer

Xiaohang Fu et al. Transl Cancer Res. 2021 Dec.

Retraction in

Abstract

Background: To evaluate the clinical value of microRNA (miR) and circulating tumor RNA (ctDNA) in the diagnosis of epithelial ovarian cancer (EOC) by meta-analysis and indirect comparison based on common reference criteria.

Methods: The PubMed, EMBASE, MEDLINE, Cochrane Library, Chinese biology medicine (CBM), China national knowledge infrastructure (CNKI), Wanfang, and Chinese Weipu (VIP) databases were searched by computer. The retrieval time limit was from the date of establishment of the database to September 2020. Two researchers independently screened the literature and extracted the basic data according to the inclusion and exclusion criteria formulated in advance, and evaluated the literature quality according to the quality assessment of diagnostic accuracy research (quadas-2). The Meta disc 1.4 and Stata 12.0 software programs were used for meta-analysis to calculate the combined sensitivity, combined specificity, combined positive likelihood ratio, combined negative likelihood ratio and combined diagnostic odds ratio (DOR). The summary receiver operating characteristic (SROC) curve was drawn using Revman 5.3 software, and the stability of the results was evaluated by sensitivity analysis. The publication bias was evaluated by Deek's funnel asymmetric test. The relative diagnostic odds ratio (RDOR) results of indirect comparison between microRNA and ctDNA were obtained using R software.

Results: Nineteen articles were included, including a total of 1,351 EOC patients and 1,194 controls. The heterogeneity test showed that there was obvious heterogeneity caused by non-threshold effect. The random effects model was used for meta-analysis of microRNA in the diagnosis of EOC. The results showed that there was no significant difference between microRNA and ctDNA in the accuracy of EOC diagnosis. The asymmetric test of Deek's funnel chart showed that there was no significant publication bias.

Discussion: There are some limitations in this study, there is no blind diagnostic test, and the intensity of indirect comparison evidence is lower than that of direct comparison evidence. The accuracy of diagnostic tests and the imperfection of mesh meta-analysis statistical methods. MicroRNA and ctDNA have similar clinical diagnostic value for EOC.

Keywords: Epithelial ovarian cancer (EOC); ctDNA; indirect comparison; meta-analysis; microRNA.

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Conflict of interest statement

Conflicts of Interest: Both authors have completed the ICMJE uniform disclosure form (available at https://dx.doi.org/10.21037/tcr-21-2609). The authors have no conflicts of interest to declare.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Flowchart of literature inclusion and exclusion.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Quality evaluation of the included literature.
Figure 3
Figure 3
SROC curve of EOC diagnosed by microRNA and ctDNA. SROC, summary receiver operating characteristic; EOC, epithelial ovarian cancer; ctDNA, circulating tumor RNA.
Figure 4
Figure 4
Indirect comparison of microRNA and ctDNA in diagnosing EOC. ctDNA, circulating tumor RNA; EOC, epithelial ovarian cancer.
Figure 5
Figure 5
Funnel chart of EOC diagnosed by microRNA and ctDNA. EOC, epithelial ovarian cancer; ctDNA, circulating tumor RNA.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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