Serum microRNA-195 as a potential diagnostic biomarker for breast cancer: a systematic review and meta-analysis.

Serum microRNA-195 (miR-195) expression has been shown to be significantly up-regulated in breast cancer, which implies that it could be a useful biomarker in the early detection of breast cancer. Hence, we performed this meta-analysis to investigate the diagnostic value of miR-195 for breast cancer. Relevant articles were collected from PubMed, Scopus, Embase, the Cochrane Library, BioMed Central, ISI Web of Knowledge, China National Knowledge Infrastructure, Wan Fang Data and Technology of Chongqing databases, from inception to May 24, 2019, by two independent researchers. The diagnostic capacity of miR-195 for breast cancer was assessed using pooled sensitivity and specificity, diagnostic odds ratio (DOR), area under the summary receiver operating characteristic (AUC) and Fagan's nomogram. Meta-analysis and heterogeneity source investigation were completed using Meta-Disc statistical software and Stata SE (version 14.0). Six studies with a total of 464 patients and 287 healthy controls were included in our meta-analysis. The pooled results for sensitivity, specificity and DOR were 0.79 (95% CI: 0.75-0.83), 0.86 (95% CI: 0.82-0.90) and 32.05 (95% CI: 17.04-60.30), respectively; positive and negative likelihood ratios were 5.18 and 0.20, and AUC was 0.9197 (95% CI: 0.86-0.91). In addition, heterogeneity was clearly apparent but was not caused by the threshold effect. In summary, this meta-analysis revealed that miR-195 may be suitable as a potential biomarker for early diagnosis of breast cancer with high sensitivity and specificity, and further investigations are needed to demonstrate its clinical application value.