Photo Credit: Elena Merkulova
The following is a summary of “Survival and clinicopathological significance of B7-H3 in bladder cancer: a systematic review and meta-analysis,” published in the March 2024 issue of Urology by Sun et al.
Bladder cancer poses a significant clinical challenge, necessitating a deeper understanding of potential biomarkers for prognosis and therapeutic targeting. B7-H3 has emerged as a promising candidate, yet its clinical-pathological relevance and prognostic significance in bladder cancer remain ambiguous. Researchers conducted a meticulous, systematic review and meta-analysis to address this gap.
The comprehensive search, spanning PubMed, Embase, Web of Science, Cochrane, and CNKI databases up to October 6, 2022, yielded a total of 8 eligible studies, comprising 1,622 bladder cancer patients. Employing the Newcastle-Ottawa Scale, researchers meticulously assessed the quality of the literature under scrutiny.
Leveraging Review Manager 5.3 and STATA 12.0, the meta-analysis synthesized data, yielding odds ratios (ORs) or hazard ratios (HRs) alongside their corresponding 95% CIs.
The data amalgamation revealed a conspicuous elevation in B7-H3 protein expression within bladder tumor tissues compared to normal bladder tissues. Notably, heightened B7-H3 expression correlated significantly with patient age, tumor infiltration, and recurrence in bladder cancer cases. However, no statistically significant associations were discerned with other clinical characteristics. Intriguingly, the pooled HR analysis unveiled no definitive link between B7-H3 expression and overall survival among bladder cancer patients.
In conclusion, the meta-analysis sheds light on the intricate role of B7-H3 in bladder cancer progression. While it appears intimately involved in tumor infiltration and recurrence, its utility as a prognostic biomarker for bladder cancer remains uncertain. The nuanced nature of these findings underscores the imperative for further well-designed studies, encompassing larger sample sizes and diverse racial backgrounds, to corroborate and refine the understanding of B7-H3 in the context of bladder cancer.
Source: bmcurol.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s12894-024-01446-3
