Background: The clinicopathological significance of cyclin D1 overexpression and prognosis of oral squamous cell carcinoma has not been fully quantified. We performed a comprehensive meta-analysis for evaluation of cyclin D1 overexpression in oral squamous cell carcinoma to determine the strength of this association.
Methods: Using both medical subheadings and free terms, we searched PubMed, Embase and the Institute for Scientific Information Web of Science for all eligible studies published before Nov. 2013. We retrieved 1674 citations, determining that 15 met the selection criteria. We used the odds ratio (OR) and hazard ratio (HR) as the common measures of association to quantitatively determine the correlation between cyclin D1 overexpression and outcomes of oral cancer. We performed a meta-analysis and heterogeneity, sensitivity, and subgroup analyses to clarify and validate the pooled results.
Results: The pooled results provided compelling evidence that cyclin D1 overexpression was significantly correlated with increased tumor size (OR = 1.617, 95% confidence interval [CI] = 1.046-2.498, p = 0.031), lymphoid node metastasis (OR = 2.035, 95% CI = 1.572-2.635, p<0.001), tumor differentiation (OR = 1.976, 95% CI = 1.363-2.866, p<0.001), and advancement of clinical stages (OR = 1.516, 95% CI = 1.140-2.015, p = 0.004), and adversely influenced overall survival of OSCC patients (HR = 1.897, 95% CI = 1.577-2.282, p<0.001). The strength of association varied in different oral cavity subsites.
Conclusion: Our findings indicated that cyclin D1 expression correlates with detrimental clinicopathological outcome and poor prognosis in oral squamous cell carcinoma. Our results may be useful in the management of oral cancer.