Abstract
BACKGROUND: This meta-analysis was conducted to investigate whether CD133 could be used as a biomarker to predict prognosis in hepatocellular carcinoma patients. METHODS: We systematically retrieved relevant studies from these databases as of February 2026. Odds ratios and their 95% confidence intervals were used to estimate the association between CD133 expression and clinicopathological features. The associations between CD133 and survival outcomes, including overall survival (OS), disease-free survival, and recurrence-free survival, were estimated by hazard ratios and 95% confidence intervals. RESULTS: A total of 25 publications were included, involving 3278 patients. CD133 was highly expressed in liver cancer tissues (P < .05). Also, CD133 expression was associated with tumor size, tumor node metastasis stage, and tumor differentiation (P < .05). CD133-positive expression had shorter OS, disease-free survival, and recurrence-free survival than those with CD133-negative expression (P < .05). CONCLUSION: This meta-analysis suggests that CD133 is a potential biomarker for predicting poor survival in Asian hepatocellular carcinoma patients, especially for OS.