A newly developed dietary inflammatory index (DII) to evaluate the inflammatory potential of diets was published recently. Many studies have investigated the link between diet-related inflammation and human cancer risk, but the results remain controversial. We sought to determine the dose-response relation between DII and human cancer risk based on published epidemiologic literature. To summarize evidence, we performed a dose-response meta-analysis to investigate the association between DII and cancer incidence. We systematically searched PubMed, Embase, Web of Science, and the Cochrane library up to 5 November 2017. After data extraction, pooled RRs were calculated and dose-response analyses were performed using a restricted cubic spline model with 4 knots. Subgroup analyses, sensitivity analyses, and tests for publication bias were also performed. In all, 44 high-quality studies with 1,082,092 participants were included. The results showed that an elevated DII (continuous—RR: 1.13; 95% CI: 1.09, 1.16; category DII_{highest vs lowest}—RR: 1.58; 95% CI: 1.45, 1.72) independently indicated higher cancer risk except for lung cancer and Australian studies. A linear dose-response relation between DII and overall cancer risk was found, with an 8.3% increase in the risk of cancer per DII score. The pooled RR of DII and cancer risk was 1.86 (95% CI: 1.63, 2.13) from 30 case-control studies but was lower in 14 prospective cohorts (RR: 1.29; 95% CI: 1.19, 1.40). The sensitivity analysis and Egger's test supported the main results. Our analysis indicated that higher DII is significantly correlated with cancer risk. More prospective studies with large sample sizes, involving more ethnic groups and different cancer types, are required in the future. This review was registered with PROSPERO as CRD42017077075.

Background: Many studies have evaluated the relationship between alkaline phosphatase (ALP) and the prognosis for prostate cancer (PCa). But they have not reached a widespread consensus yet. Therefore, we completed a meta-analysis to ascertain the significance of ALP and the prognosis for PCa. Methods: A literature search was performed in the PubMed, Embase, and Web of Science databases. HRs concerning overall survival (OS), progression-free survival (PFS), and cancer-specific survival (CSS) were extracted to evaluate the impacts of ALP on the prognosis for PCa. Subgroup analyses were conducted on different study types, regions, sample sizes, and cutoff values. Sensitivity analysis was performed by removing one study in sequence. Results: A total of 63 studies from 54 articles with 16,135 patients were included in this meta-analysis. The pooled results indicated that high baseline ALP was associated with obviously poor OS (HR=1.74, 95% CI: 1.47–2.06) and PFS (HR=1.60, 95% CI: 1.13–2.26) in patients with PCa. The pooled HR for bone-specific ALP and OS was 1.76 (95% CI: 1.45–2.15). However, no association between ALP and CSS (HR=1.002, 95% CI: 0.998–1.005) was found for PCa. The results of subgroup analyses were all in accordance with the main findings. Sensitivity analysis suggested that no single study could affect the stability of the results. Conclusion: High serum ALP is significantly associated with poor OS and PFS except for CSS in PCa. ALP is an efficient and convenient biomarker for PCa prognosis.

Objective. To identify key microRNAs (miRNAs) and their regulatory networks in prostate cancer.Methods. Four miRNA and three gene expression microarray datasets were downloaded for analysis from Gene Expression Omnibus database. The differentially expressed miRNA and genes were accessed by a GEO2R. Functional and pathway enrichment analyses were performed using the DAVID program. Protein-protein interaction (PPI) and miRNA-mRNA regulatory networks were constructed using the STRING and Cytoscape tool. Moreover, the results and clinical significance were validated in TCGA data.Results. We identified 26 significant DEMs, 633 upregulated DEGs, and 261 downregulated DEGs. Functional enrichment analysis indicated that significant DEGs were related to TGF-beta signaling pathway and TNF signaling pathway in PCa. Key DEGs such as HSPA8, PPP2R1A, CTNNB1, ADCY5, ANXA1, and COL9A2 were found as hub genes in PPI networks. TCGA data supported our results and the miRNAs were correlated with clinical stages and overall survival.Conclusions. We identified 26 miRNAs that may take part in key pathways like TGF-beta and TNF pathways in prostate cancer regulatory networks. MicroRNAs like miR-23b, miR-95, miR-143, and miR-183 can be utilized in assisting the diagnosis and prognosis of prostate cancer as biomarkers. Further experimental studies are required to validate our results.

The relationship of platelet-to-lymphocyte ratio (PLR) and survival in urological cancers remained inconsistent in previous studies. Therefore, we performed a meta-analysis to assess the prognostic significance of PLR in patients with urological cancers. A literature search was performed in the PubMed, Embase, and Web of Science up to July, 2017 and study quality was obtained using the Newcastle-Ottawa Scale. To estimate the association of PLR and overall survival (OS) and other survival outcomes in urological cancers, we used pooled hazard ratios (HRs). Subgroup analyses were conducted on different ethnics, sample sizes and cut-off values. 20 high quality studies involving 7562 patients with urological cancers were included in this meta-analysis. High pretreatment PLR was significantly associated with poor OS in patients with urological cancers (pooled HR = 1.58). Elevated PLR was also correlated with other survival outcomes. However, we found that PLR was significantly relevant to the OS of patients with different types of urological cancers except bladder cancer (BCa, HR = 1.16, 95%CI: 0.96–1.41). In conclusion, elevated PLR was negatively related to the OS of patients with urological cancers, except in BCa. However, more large scale prospective studies with high quality are required in the future.

Aim: Prostate cancer (PCa) is the most common malignancy found in males worldwide. Although it is mostly indolent, PCa still poses a serious threat to long-term health. Materials & methods: The Can...