ObjectiveTo investigate the efficacy and safety of using tamoxifen sequential with the third generation aromatase inhibitors versus the third generation aromatase inhibitors or tamoxifen alone for postmenopausal hormone receptor-positive breast cancer patients.MethodsThe Cochrane Library (Issue 10, 2016), PubMed, EMbase, CNKI, and WanFang Data were searched to collect randomized controlled trials on using tamoxifen sequential with the third generation aromatase inhibitors versus the third generation aromatase inhibitors or tamoxifen alone for postmenopausal hormone receptor-positive breast cancer patients from inception to October, 2016. Two reviewers independently screened literature, extracted data and assessed the risk of bias of included studies, then meta-analysis was performed by using RevMan 5.3 software.ResultsA total of 9 studies involving 22 005 patients were included. The results of meta-analysis showed that the sequential therapy group was superior to the tamoxifen monotherapy group on overall survival (HR=0.71, 95%CI 0.52 to 0.98, P=0.04) and recurrence-free survival (HR=0.60, 95%CI 0.46 to 0.79, P=0.000 3). However, no significant difference was found in overall survival and disease free survival between the sequential therapy group and the aromatase inhibitors monotherapy group. As to adverse events, compared with the tamoxifen monotherapy group, the sequential therapy group could reduce the incidence of endometrial hyperplasia (OR=0.22, 95%CI 0.11 to 0.45, P<0.000 01), death (OR=0.74, 95%CI 0.66 to 0.84, P<0.000 01) and metastasis (OR=0.79, 95%CI 0.68 to 0.91, P=0.001); however, the incidence of bone fracture was higher in sequential therapy group compared with intamoxifen monotherapy group (OR=1.31, 95%CI 1.13 to 1.51, P=0.000 3).ConclusionThe sequential therapy using tamoxifen and the third generation of aromatase inhibitors is better than tamoxifen monotherapy for postmenopausal hormone receptor-positive breast cancer patients. However, there is no significant difference in survival benefit between the sequential therapy and aromatase inhibitors monotherapy.
Objective To systematically evaluate the correlation between the expression of microRNA (miRNA)-21 and the prognosis of esophageal cancer. Methods PubMed, Cochrane Library, Embase, Wanfang Data, China National Knowledge Infrastructure and VIP Databases were searched by for the literature on the correlation between miRNA-21 and the prognosis of esophageal cancer till July 10, 2022. Two researchers independently performed literature screening, quality evaluation, and data extraction. Statistical analysis was conducted with Stata 14.0. Results A total of 13 articles were included, including 1 204 patients. The results of meta-analysis showed that: the overall survival (OS) of patients with high expression of miRNA-21 was lower than that of patients with low expression of miRNA-21 [hazard ratio (HR)=2.11, 95% confidence interval (CI) (1.56, 2.84), P<0.001]. miRNA-21 expression was not associated with disease free survival [HR=2.53, 95%CI (0.67, 8.22), P=0.182]. The OS of Asian patients with high expression of miRNA-21 was significantly lower [HR=2.44, 95%CI (1.71, 3.49), P=0.005], while the OS of non-Asian patients was not related to miRNA-21 expression [HR=1.34, 95%CI (0.94, 1.91), P=0.363]. The high expression of miRNA-21 was correlated with the decreased OS in patients with esophageal squamous cell carcinoma [HR=2.22, 95%CI (1.52, 3.26), P=0.001], while the OS in patients with esophageal adenocarcinoma was not correlated with the expression of miRNA-21 [HR=1.39, 95%CI (0.63, 3.06), P=0.409]. Conclusion The overexpression of miRNA-21 is associated with poor prognosis and might be regarded as a potential prognostic biomarker for patients with esophageal cancer.