Clinicopathological and Prognostic Significance of Ubiquitin-Specific Protease 39 Overexpression in Solid Cancers A Meta-Analysis

Objectives: This meta-analysis aimed to evaluate the association between USP39 expression, the prognosis of patients with solid cancer, and to identify the clinicopathological characteristics of these patients. Material and Method: This study was carried out using PRISMA strategy. Pubmed, ScienceDirect, Google Scholar, Ebsco, Cochrane Library electronic databases were searched for relevant studies published up to April 2022. 14 studies was included in this study. Hazard ratio (HR) and 95% confidence interval (CI) data were collected, including number of samples, detection methods, number of sample with high USP39 expression, and cut-off value. HR and 95% CI was used to evaluate the prognostic value of USP39 expression. Odds ratio (OR) with 95% CI was used to assess the effect of USP39 expression on clinicopathological parameters. Results: Qualitative analysis using 14 included studies and quantitative analysis using 7 included studies. We found that USP39 expression has significant risk for histological grade (OR 3.14, CI 95% 2.15-4.58, p<0.001), TNM stage (OR 2.23, CI 95% 1.66-3.00, p<0.001), tumor size (OR 2.17, CI 95% 1.56-3.03, p<0.001), lymph node metastasis (OR 2.31, CI 95% 1.23-4.33, p=0.009), vascular invasion (OR =1.76, 95% CI = 1.13-2.73, p=0.01). Furthermore, high expression of USP39 protein was associated with worse OS (OR 1.17, CI 95% 1.13-1.21, p<0.001) and DFS (OR 1.39, CI 95% 1.23-1.57, p<0.001) in cancer patients. Conclusion: It can be concluded that USP39 has a significant prognostic value in patients with solid cancer and was found to have a significant relationship in the clinicopathology of solid cancer patients.