Research Paper|Volume 13, Issue 2|pp 2031—2048

Prognostic value of circulating tumor DNA in pancreatic cancer: a systematic review and meta-analysis

Zengli Fang^1,^2,^3,⁴, Qingcai Meng^1,^2,^3,⁴, Bo Zhang^1,^2,^3,⁴, Si Shi^1,^2,^3,⁴, Jiang Liu^1,^2,^3,⁴, Chen Liang^1,^2,^3,⁴, Jie Hua^1,^2,^3,⁴, Xianjun Yu^1,^2,^3,⁴, Jin Xu^1,^2,^3,⁴, Wei Wang^1,^2,^3,⁴

¹Department of Pancreatic Surgery, Fudan University Shanghai Cancer Center, Shanghai 200032, China
²Department of Oncology, Shanghai Medical College, Fudan University, Shanghai 200032, China
³Shanghai Pancreatic Cancer Institute, Shanghai 200032, China
⁴Pancreatic Cancer Institute, Fudan University, Shanghai 200032, China

* Equal contribution

Received: August 12, 2020Accepted: October 27, 2020Published: December 9, 2020

https://doi.org/10.18632/aging.202199

Copyright: © 2020 Fang et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY 3.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.

Abstract

Increasing evidence has revealed the potential correlation between circulating tumor DNA (ctDNA) and the prognosis of pancreatic cancer, but inconsistent findings have been reported. Therefore, a meta-analysis was performed to evaluate the prognostic value of ctDNA in pancreatic cancer. The Embase, MEDLINE, and Web of Science databases were searched for relevant articles published until April 2020. Articles reporting the correlation between ctDNA and the prognosis of pancreatic cancer were identified through database searches. The pooled hazard ratios (HRs) for prognostic data were calculated and analyzed using Stata software. A total of 2326 patients pooled from 25 eligible studies were included in the meta-analysis to evaluate the prognostic value of ctDNA in pancreatic cancer. Patients with mutations detected or high concentrations of ctDNA had a significantly poorer overall survival (OS) (univariate: HR = 2.54; 95% CI, 2.05-3.14; multivariate: HR = 2.07; 95% CI, 1.69-2.54) and progression-free survival (PFS) (univariate: HR = 2.18; 95% CI, 1.41-3.37; multivariate: HR = 2.20; 95% CI, 1.38-3.52). In conclusion, the present meta-analysis indicates that mutations detected or high concentrations of ctDNA are significant predictors of OS and PFS in patients with pancreatic cancer.