ABSTRACT
Objective The present study presents a meta analysis on the correlation between the expression of ribonucleoside reductase regulatory factor 1(RRM1) and the therapeutic effects of gemcitabine for advanced non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). Methods Chinese and English publications were retrieved from the CNKI, WANFANG, PubMed, EMBASE, and ASCO databases with an electronic computer to compare the response rate of the advanced NSCLC patients with different RRM1 expression level (high expression/positive and low expression/negative) to gemcitabine chemotherapy. The Cochrane Collaboration's RevMan 5.0 software was adopted for the analysis. Results Eleven studies, with a total of 515 patients, were identified. The number of patients with high/positive RRM1 protein expression was 235, and the overall efficacy rate was 17.9%. The number of patients with low/negative RRM1 protein expression was 280, and the overall efficacy rate was 44.3%. Heterogeneity test showed no statistical heterogeneity among studies (χ2=10.50, P=0.40, I2=5%). The fixed effect model was adopted for a comprehensive quantitative analysis of the studies, and it showed that the combined odds ratio (OR) was 3.70, with a 95% confidence interval of 2.43 to 5.63, Z=6.11, P<0.00001. Conclusion The patients with low/negative RRM1 expression in advanced NSCLC were more sensitive to gemcitabine chemotherapy compared with patients having high/positive RRM1 expression.