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Int J Med Sci 2013; 10(6):653-664. doi:10.7150/ijms.6050 This issue Cite

Research Paper

Prognostic Role of C-Reactive Protein in Hepatocellular Carcinoma: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis

Zhiyun Zheng¹, Lin Zhou¹, Sheng Gao¹, Zhe Yang^1,2, Jia yao¹, Shusen Zheng^1,2✉

1. Key Lab of Multi-organ Transplantation, The First Affiliated Hospital, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, Zhejiang, P.R. China.
2. Divisin of Hepatobiliary and Pancreatic surgery, Department of Surgery, The First Affiliated Hospital, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, Zhejiang, P.R. China.

✉ Corresponding author: shusen zheng, Divisin of Hepatobiliary and Pancreatic surgery, Department of Surgery, The First Affiliated Hospital, Zhejiang University, No. 79 Qinchun Road, Hangzhou, Zhejiang, P. R. China, 310003. E-mail: shusenzhengedu.cn. Fax: +86-571-87236466. More

Abstract

Background: C-reactive protein (CRP) which used to be a prototypical inflammatory cytokine has been identified involving in the progression of tumor-promoting inflammation. Several studies have indicated that CRP is a predictor for hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC), but the results are controversial. Methods: We conducted a systematic review of ten studies (1885 patients) to examine the association of high serum CRP expression with overall survival (OS) and recurrence-free survival (RFS) in HCC patients by meta-analysis. Moreover, the correlation between high serum CRP and tumor clinicopathological parameters was also assessed. Hazard ratio (HR) or odds ratio (OR) with its 95% confidence interval (CI) was used as the effect size estimate. Results: Our pooled results showed that high expression level of serum CRP (≥10 mg/L) was associated with poor OS (HR: 2.15, 95% CI: 1.76-2.63) and RFS (HR: 2.66, 95% CI: 1.54-4.58) in HCC. Serum CRP overexpression (≥10 mg/L) was also significantly associated with the presence of tumor vascular invasion (OR: 3.05, 95% CI: 1.79-5.23), multiple tumor (OR: 2.36, 95% CI: 1.36-4.10), larger tumor size (OR: 3.41, 95% CI: 1.04-11.18), and advanced TNM stage (OR: 3.23, 95% CI: 2.29-4.57). In addition, serum CRP overexpression (≥10 mg/L) tended to be correlated with poor differentiation (OR: 1.58, 95% CI: 0.74-3.39), though not significantly. Conclusion: The present systematic review and meta-analysis demonstrate that high serum level of CRP (≥10 mg/L) denotes a poor prognosis of patients with HCC.

Keywords: C-reactive protein, hepatocellular carcinoma, prognosis, survival.

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