The correlation between cyclin D1 overexpression and the clinical outcome of head and neck cancer is not defined. The aim of this meta-analysis was to evaluate the prognostic value of cyclin D1 in patients with head and neck cancer. A search thorough Ovid MEDLINE was performed to enroll all eligible articles. Twenty-two studies comprising a total of 1,929 patients with different head and neck cancers were included. Cyclin D1 overexpression was significantly associated with lymph node metastasis [OR 2.25; 95 % confidence interval (CI) 1.76-2.87] and worse disease-free survival (OR 3.06; 95 % CI 2.42-3.87]. Subgroup analysis revealed that cyclin D1 overexpression correlated significantly with nodal metastasis for laryngeal cancer (OR 2.26; 95 % CI 1.61-3.16) and was a significant poor predictor for nasopharyngeal cancer (OR 4.44; 95 % CI 1.89-10.42). Our meta-analysis suggests that cyclin D1 overexpression could represent an important prognostic indicator for patients with head and neck cancer.
Keywords: Biomarkers; Cyclin D1; Head and neck cancer; Prognosis; Survival.