Postgraduate medical journal
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Circular RNAs (circRNAs) may serve as potential biomarkers for patients with lung cancer. The aim of this meta-analysis was to analyse the diagnostic, prognostic and clinicopathological values of circRNAs in lung cancer patients. A systematic search of PubMed, Embase, Web of Science, Scopus and the Cochrane Library databases was performed for relevant articles from inception to 29 January 2020. ⋯ For prognostic significances, overexpression of 23 upregulated circRNAs was relevant to a poor prognosis (OS: HR=2.21, 95% CI: 1.96 to 2.49, p<0.001), and overexpression of 9 downregulated circRNAs was correlated with a favourable prognosis (OS: HR=0.62, 95% CI: 0.53 to 0.73, p<0.001). As for clinicopathological parameters, high expression of 23 upregulated circRNAs was associated with unfavourable clinicopathological features while 9 downregulated circRNAs proved the contrary. In conclusion, this study confirmed that circRNAs might serve as important biomarkers for diagnostic and prognostic values of lung cancer.