Diagnostic accuracy of osteopontin plus alpha-fetoprotein in the hepatocellular carcinoma: A meta-analysis

Summary Objective Osteopontin (OPN) has been reported as a potential biomarker for diagnosis of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) in many inconsistent results. This study demonstrates a systematic meta-analysis for the evaluation on diagnostic accuracy of serum or plasma OPN and alpha-fetoprotein (AFP) alone and combined assays for HCC. Methods Relevant literatures were searched in PubMed up to August 2016. The quality of each study was evaluated by QUADAS-2 (quality assessment for studies of diagnostic accuracy). Statistical analysis was performed by Meta-Disc 1.4 and Stata 12.0. The random-effect models were used to estimate pooled sensitivity, specificity and other diagnostic indicators of OPN and/or AFP in HCC. Results A total of 14 case-control literatures (15 studies) met the inclusion criteria in this meta-analysis. The respective pooled diagnostic sensitivity and specificity were 0.71 (95% CI: 0.69–0.74) and 0.80 (95% CI: 0.78–0.82) for OPN; 0.61 (95% CI: 0.58–0.63) and 0.92 (95% CI: 0.91–0.94) for AFP; 0.82 (95% CI: 0.79–0.84) and 0.77 (95% CI: 0.74–0.80) for OPN plus AFP. Their area under the curve (AUC) values were 0.8786, 0.8718 and 0.9005, respectively. Conclusion Combination of OPN and AFP was better than OPN or AFP alone in diagnosis of HCC.