Prognostic significance of B7-H3 expression in patients with colorectal cancer: A meta-analysis

Objective: The co-stimulatory molecule B7-H3 plays an important role in prognosis of several malignancies. However, its prognostic value in clinic in patient with colorectal cancer (CRC) is still controversial. This meta-analysis evaluated the relationship between B7-H3 expression and the outcomes of CRC patients.

Methods: PubMed, Google Scholar, Embase, CNKI and Wanfang database were searched for the studies on the relationship between the expression of B7-H3 and prognosis of CRC patients. Pooled odds ratios (ORs) analysis with 95% confidence interval (95% CIs) for lymph node metastasis, 24-month overall survival and 72-month overall survival were performed mainly using Review Manager 5.0.

Results: Six articles including 1,202 total CRC cases were included for the meta-analysis. Pooled analysis with fixed-effects model showed that B7-H3 expression had no relationship with lymphatic metastasis in CRC patients (Fixed-effects, OR= 1.18; 95 % CI:0.87–1.61, P=0.28). However, B7H3 expression was associated with 24-month overall survival (Fixed-effects, OR=0.48, 95% CI: 0.32–0.74, P<0.001) and 72-month overall survival (Fixed-effects, OR = 0.61, 95% CI: 0.43–0.85, P< 0.01) in CRC patients.

Conclusion: The co-stimulatory molecule B7-H3 expression is negatively associated with lymph node metastasis in CRC. However, B7-H3 detection might be a feasible and effective means to predict the prognosis in CRC patients.