Immunohistochemical Determination of ATAD2 Protein Overexpression for Predicting Prognostic Value in Patients with Different Types of Cancer: A Meta-Analysis

Background: Increasing number of studies has reported that Atpase family AAA domain-containing 2 (ATAD2) is nuclear coactivator, which is associated with tumor cell proliferation and invasion. Previous studies have demonstrated conflicting results on the relationship between high ATAD2 expression and clinicopathological characteristics of the tumors or patients’ survival outcomes. Considering the discordant results of published studies, we performed a metaanalysis to evaluate the ATAD2 expression in predicting prognosis, and to assess the relationship between high ATAD2 expression and clinicopathological parameters.Methods: We systematically searched electronic database of PubMed, Web of Science and Embase, and selected all immunohistochemical studies of hepatocellular cancer specimens for ATAD2, to analyze the relationship between high ATAD2 expression and prognosis of hepatocellular cancer patients. Pooled data of eligible studies together from individual studies and analyzed data using STATA software to perform this meta-analysis.Results: A total of 5 studies with 719 liver cancer patients were included. ATAD2 protein overexpression wassignificantly correlated with poorer overall survival (HR 3.53, 95% CI: 1.87-6.63, P = 0.000). In addition, high ATAD2 expression was also negatively related with tumor stage [RR, relative risk: 1.46 (95% CI: 1.30-1.64); P < 0.001], as well as tumor size [RR: 1.23(95% CI: 1.06-1.43); P < 0.001], and tumor recurrence [RR: 1.34 (95% CI: 1.05-1.72); P < 0.001].Conclusions: These data suggested that immunohistochemical determination of ATAD2 Protein might be aprognostic biomarker for the patients of hepatocellular cancer.