LAUSR

Objectives Metastasis-associated protein 1 (MTA1) is a transcriptional regulator and significantly associated with prognosis of patients with cancer. However, its role as a potential prognostic marker in digestive tract cancer (DTC) is controversial. In this study, a meta-analysis was conducted to evaluate the MTA1 expression as a predictor of clinicopathology and survival of patients with DTC. Methods We searched PubMed, Ovid, Web of Science and Cochrane databases using multiple search strategies for eligible studies. STATA 11.0 software was used to pool the data and analyze the association, odds ratios (ORs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) were used to measure the strength of the association. Furthermore, the Newcastle-Ottawa scale was used to evaluate the quality of eligible studies. Results MTA1 overexpression was strongly associated with depth of invasion (OR = 1.88, 95%CI: 1.05–3.37, P = 0.03), lymph node metastasis (OR = 2.30, 95%CI: 1.76–3.01, P<0.001), vascular invasion (OR = 2.02, 95%CI: 1.40–2.91, P<0.001) and TNM stage (OR = 2.78, 95%CI: 1.63–4.74, P<0.001), and was related to 1- (RR = 1.84, 95%CI: 1.18–2.89, P = 0.008), 3- (RR = 1.74, 95%CI: 1.32–2.30, P<0.001) and 5-year (RR = 1.64, 95%CI: 1.18–2.27, P = 0.003) OS. Further, MTA1 was associated with 1- (RR = 4.16, 95%CI: 1.35–12.81, P = 0.01), 3- (RR = 1.90, 95%CI: 1.02–3.53, P = 0.04) and 5- (RR = 2.17, 95%CI: 1.41–3.32, P<0.001) year DFS. In subgroup analyses based on study quality and tumor type, MTA1 overexpression was obviously related to clinical parameters, such as lymph node metastasis and TNM stage, and was also associated with prognosis of patients with gastrointestinal or esophageal cancer. Conclusions MTA1 expression is strongly correlated with metastasis-related variables, and represents a promising prognostic factor in DTC.