Meta-analysis of CXCR7 Expression Related to Clinical Prognosis inCancers

Purpose: Recently, higher expression of chemokine receptors in patients with various cancer types has been observed and indicated to have prognostic significance in the clinical progression of cancers. Former research has determined that CXCR7, as a member of chemokine receptor C-X-C family, empowers greater affinity with chemokine CXCL12 than CXCR4. The present study investigated the correlation of clinical characteristics and CXCR7 expression in cancers using meta-analysis. Methods: A comprehensive search on Pubmed and Web of Science identified CXCR7-related clinical studies. Methodological quality of these studies was evaluated and all the data were extracted, calculated and analyzed. This meta-analysis was carried out with Stata 12.0. Results: Fifteen eligible studies consisting of 1780 participants were included. The results showed that CXCR7 significantly relates to tumor occurrence (pooled RR=3.12, 95% CI: 1.71-5.70, P=0.000), tumor grades (pooled RR=1.41, 95% CI: 1.14-1.75, P=0.002), tumor stages (pooled RR=1.51, 95% CI: 1.26-1.82, P=0.000) and lymph node metastasis (pooled RR=1.49, 95% CI: 1.14-1.94, P=0.000), respectively. Conclusion: Highly expressed chemokine receptor CXCR7 potentially increases tumor occurrence risk. Higher CXCR7 expression is associated with poorer prognosis, advanced stages, differentiation grades and poor lymph node metastasis in patients with various cancers. Thus, highly expressed CXCR7 could be a potential biomarker in the prognosis of cancers.