Prognostic value of the long noncoding RNA AFAP1-AS1 in cancers

Objective This meta-analysis explored whether the expression of actin filament-associated protein 1 antisense RNA 1 (AFAP1-AS1) is related to the prognosis and clinicopathological features of patients with cancer. Methods PubMed, EMBASE, and Cochrane Library were systematically searched. Hazard ratios (HRs) with 95％ confidence intervals (CIs) were used to assess the prognostic value based on overall survival (OS), disease-free survival (DFS), and progression-free survival (PFS). Odds ratios (ORs) with 95％ CIs were used to determine the relationships between AFAP1-AS1 and clinicopathological features, such as large tumor size (LTS), high tumor stage (HTS), poor histological grade (PHG), lymph node metastasis (LNM), and distant metastasis (DM). Results Thirty-five eligible articles and 3433 cases were analyzed. High AFAP1-AS1 expression, compared to low AFAP1-AS1 expression, correlated with significantly shorter OS (HR = 2.15, 95％ CI = 1.97–2.34, P < 0.001), DFS (HR = 1.37, 95％ CI = 1.19–1.57, P < 0.001), and PFS (HR = 1.97, 95％ CI = 1.56–2.50, P < 0.001) in patients with cancer. In various cancers, elevated AFAP1-AS1 expression was significantly associated with LTS (OR = 2.76, 95％ CI = 2.16–3.53, P < 0.001), HTS (OR = 2.23, 95％ CI = 1.83–2.71, P < 0.001), and PHG (OR = 1.39, 95％ CI = 1.08–1.79, P = 0.01) but not LNM (OR = 1.59, 95％ CI = 0.88–2.85, P = 0.12) or DM (OR = 1.81, 95％ CI = 0.90–3.66, P = 0.10). Conclusion High AFAP1-AS1 expression was associated with prognostic and clinicopathological features, suggesting that AFAP1-AS1 is a prognostic biomarker for human cancers.