Abstract
BACKGROUND: Accumulating evidence has highlighted that lncRNA ABHD11-AS1 plays an essential role in tumorigenesis and is expected to become a new predictive biomarker and ideal target for cancer therapy, whereas some of their findings are conflicting due to the relatively small sample size of individual studies. Thus, this meta-analysis aimed to quantitatively ascertain the association of ABHD11-AS1 with diverse human malignancies. METHODS: Eight databases were comprehensively screened for relevant articles on January 1, 2024. The significance of ABHD11-AS1 in malignancies was determined by odds ratios (ORs) or hazard ratios (HRs) with corresponding 95% confidence interval (CI). Subgroup analyses and sensitivity analyses were applied to verify the reliability and robustness of the pooled results. Simultaneously, the GEPIA2021 and UCSC Xena databases were applied to further strengthen the results. RESULTS: Fourteen clinical studies comprising eight kinds of malignancies and 1215 malignancy cases were enrolled into this meta-analysis. The pooled results showed that increased ABHD11-AS1 expression was remarkably associated with lymph node metastasis (OR = 2.73, 95%CI [1.97, 3.77], I(2) = 0%, p < 0.00001), advanced tumor stage ( OR = 3.14, 95%CI [2.34, 4.21], I(2) = 39%, p < 0.00001), and unfavorable overall survival (OS) (HR = 1.81, 95%CI [1.58, 2.06], I(2) = 0%, p < 0.00001). Subgroup analyses and sensitivity analyses indicated that the pooled results were reliable and robust. Additionally, ABHD11-AS1 was significantly increased in eight kinds of malignancies according to the validation of the GEPIA2021 database. Meanwhile, the UCSC Xena databases further revealed that elevated ABHD11-AS1 expression was significantly associated with poor prognosis as assessed by progression free interval (PFI), disease free interval (DFI), disease specific survival (DSS), and OS. CONCLUSIONS: Current evidence supports the association of elevated ABHD11-AS1 expression with poor prognosis. Thereby, ABHD11-AS1 may be considered as a promising biomarker to screen cancer and predict malignancy prognosis. Also, there is a necessity for larger-scale multicenter studies with uniform study protocols from different countries to further validate the conclusions.