This meta-analysis aimed to assess the prognostic value of long noncoding RNA cancer susceptibility candidate 2 (CASC2) in human tumors.
We searched the available databases up to December 2017. Pooled hazard ratios (HRs) and the corresponding 95% confidence intervals (CIs) were used to examine the prognostic impact of CASC2 on overall survival (OS) in patients diagnosed with malignancies.
A total of eight studies with 663 cancer patients were enrolled. Our results showed that high CASC2 expression level was associated with a favorable OS (HR=0.437, 95% CI: 0.345-0.554). The significant results were not altered by stratified analysis according to cancer type, sample size, follow-up months, and HR estimation method. A significant association of glioma tumor stage with CASC2 expression was detected (III-IV vs I-II: odds ratio=2.126, 95% CI: 1.032-4.378). CASC2 could be used as an independent prognostic factor for OS (HR=0.450, 95% CI: 0.336-0.602). Sensitivity analysis showed that no single study changed the pooled results significantly. Begg's funnel plot and Egger's test showed that no publication bias was detected.
High expression level of CASC2 is associated with favorable survival outcome for cancer patients, and CASC2 could be used as a prognostic predictor for cancers.