Prognostic role of pretreatment serum albumin in renal cell carcinoma: a systematic review and meta-analysis

Abstract

Zhen Chen,1,* Yingjie Shao,2,* Kun Wang,1 Wei Cao,1 Yulong Xiong,1 Rongzu Wu,1 Shicheng Luo,1 Xianlin Xu,3,* Xiaozhou He1,* 1Department of Urology, The Third Affiliated Hospital of Soochow University, 2Department of Radiation Oncology, The Third Affiliated Hospital of Soochow University, Changzhou, 3Department of Urology, Sir Run Run Shaw Hospital, Third Affiliated Hospital, Nanjing Medical University, Nanjing, Jiangsu, People’s Republic of China *These authors contributed equally to this work Abstract: Recently, many studies have shown that pretreatment serum albumin can be closely linked to the prognosis of cancer patients, including those with renal cell carcinoma (RCC). However, not all studies have reached the same conclusion. We therefore conducted a systematic review and meta-analysis to evaluate the prognostic value of pretreatment serum albumin in RCC patients. A total of 17 studies involving 6,447 patients were included in our meta-analysis. Our results indicated that a lower pretreatment serum albumin level yielded a worse overall survival (hazard ratio [HR]=2.46, 95% confidence interval [CI] 1.92–3.13), cancer-specific survival (HR=2.22, 95% CI 1.87–2.64), and relapse-free survival/progression-free survival (HR=1.75, 95% CI 1.28–2.38). Generally, these findings were particularly pronounced when stratified by tumor type, analysis type, cut-off value, and HR-obtaining method. In conclusion, a decreased pretreatment serum albumin level implies a poor prognosis for RCC patients, and can be monitored for risk stratification and individualized treatment in RCC patients. Keywords: albumin, prognosis, renal cell carcinoma, meta-analysis

Keywords

• albumin
• prognosis
• renal cell carcinoma
• meta-analysis