The prognostic and clinicopathological significance of desmoglein 2 in human cancers: a systematic review and meta-analysis

PeerJ. 2022 Mar 22:10:e13141. doi: 10.7717/peerj.13141. eCollection 2022.

Abstract

Objective: The survival and clinicopathological significance of desmoglein 2 (DSG2) in various cancers is controversial. Thus, we performed this systematic review and meta-analysis to explore the preliminary prognostic value of DSG2.

Methods: Eligible studies were identified from databases including PubMed, the Cochrane Library, Embase, Web of Science and Scopus. Hand searches were also conducted in relevant bibliographies. We then extracted and pooled hazard ratio (HR) of overall survival (OS) and odds ratio (OR) of clinicopathological features.

Results: A total of 11 eligible studies containing 1,488 patients were included. Our results demonstrated that in non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC), high DSG2 expression is associated with poor OS. However, in digestive system cancer and female reproductive system cancer, there were no statistically significant associations between OS and DSG2.

Conclusions: Based on the findings of this study, high DSG2 expression is associated with worse prognosis in patients with NSCLC, and thus DSG2 expression could be a biomarker for prognosis in NSCLC.

Keywords: Cancer; Desmoglein 2; Meta-analysis; Prognosis; Systematic review.

Publication types

  • Meta-Analysis
  • Systematic Review
  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Biomarkers, Tumor / analysis
  • Carcinoma, Non-Small-Cell Lung* / metabolism
  • Desmoglein 2 / genetics
  • Female
  • Humans
  • Lung Neoplasms* / metabolism
  • Prognosis

Substances

  • Desmoglein 2
  • Biomarkers, Tumor

Grants and funding

This study was supported by the Scientific Research Foundation of the Health Planning Committee of Sichuan (18PJ186 to Jiantao Wang), the National Natural Science Foundation of China (81600864 to Yan Wang), the Undergraduate Student Innovation and Entrepreneurship Training Program of Sichuan University (C202114146 to Siyuan Hao), and the Swedish Cancer Society (19-0056-JiA to Sean G. Rudd). The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.