Background: As reported by numerous research studies, the expression levels of SNHG1  (small nucleolar RNA host gene 1) are increased in different kinds of tumours, revealing that SNHG1  is likely to perform a crucial function in cancer prevalence and progression. Moreover, a mounting degree of evidence suggests that increased SNHG1  expression also has an association with poor medical outcomes among cancer patients.
Materials and methods: Collection of qualifying research studies was performed through the retrieval of keywords in PubMed and Web of Science, up to March 20, 2018. This quantitative meta-analysis was carried out using Stata SE12.0 software and aimed at exploring the connection between the expression level of SNHG1  and clinicopathology.
Results: Ten research studies, involving an aggregate of 715 patients, met the inclusion criteria. As suggested by the findings of the current meta-analysis, with regard to prognosis, the patients with high expression of SNHG1  had poorer overall survival (OS) (HR =3.36, 95% CI: 2.42, 4.67) and, with regard to their clinicopathology, increased SNHG1  was associated with advanced TNM stage (RR =1.88, 95% CI: 1.58, 2.24), poorly differentiated histological grade (RR =1.38, 95% CI:1.09, 1.76), and positive lymph node metastasis (RR =1.80, 95% CI: 1.42, 2.29).
Conclusion: As revealed by this meta-analysis, elevated SNHG1  expression is typical in various types of cancer. In addition, elevated SNHG1  expression is likely to function as an advanced predictive element of poor prognosis and lymph node metastasis in various cancer types. Nonetheless, to date, it remains essential to carry out larger-size and better-designed research studies for the confirmation of our findings.
Keywords: SNHG1, cancer, prognosis, meta-analysis