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Purpose: To evaluate the quality of published clinical practice guidelines (CPGs) regarding the nutritional risk screening and assessment of cancer patients and to identify high-quality CPGs for clinical healthcare professionals., Methods: Guidelines for the nutritional risk screening and assessment of cancer patients were comprehensively searched in eight electronic databases, including The Lancet, PubMed, Cochrane Library, Excerpta Medica dataBASE (EMBASE), Web of Science, China National Knowledge Infrastructure (CNKI), China Biology Medicine disc (CBMdisc), and Wan Fang Data, through August 2020. Six relevant guideline databases, including the National Comprehensive Cancer Network (NCCN), the National Guideline Clearinghouse (NGC), the Guideline International Network (GIN), the New Zealand Guidelines Group (NZGG), the China Guideline Clearinghouse (CGC), and Medlive, and relevant nutrition society websites, were also searched through August 2020. The methodological quality of the included CPGs was appraised independently by three assessors using the Appraisal of Guidelines for Research and Evaluation, 2nd edition (AGREE II) tool., Results: Seven CPGs were located, and the domain with the highest percentage was "clarity of presentation" (85.44%), while the domain with the lowest percentage was "applicability" (40.26%). From the AGREE II results, two guidelines were rated as "strongly recommended," three were assessed as "recommended with modifications," and two were deemed as "not recommended.", Conclusion: Considering that the two "strongly recommended" guidelines were developed within the American and European contexts, translation, validation, and cultural adaptation are recommended prior to implementing these guidelines in other countries or healthcare contexts to improve their effectiveness and sensitivity for local cancer patients., Trial Registration: PROSPERO registration of the study protocol: CRD42020177390 (July 5, 2020).

Background and Objective: Evidence has shown that matrix metalloproteinases-3 (MMP3) is important for cancer progression. Recent studies about the association between the -1171(5A>6A) polymorphism in MMP3 promoter region and cancer risk have yielded conflicting results., Methodology/principal Findings: We performed a meta-analysis of 41 studies including 11112 cases and 11091 controls to determine whether the -1171(5A>6A) polymorphism of MMP3 was associated with cancer risk. We assessed the strength of association and performed sub-group analyses by cancer types, ethnicity, smoking status, genotyping method, source of controls and sample size. The pooled results revealed that no significant association of the -1171(5A>6A) polymorphism with overall cancer risk in any of four models. Further sub-group analysis revealed that individuals with the 6A allele had lower risk of gastrointestinal cancer in two models: heterozygote comparison (6A/5A vs. 5A/5A: OR=0.74, 95%CI: 0.60-0.91; I(2)=1.9%), and dominant model (6A/6A+6A/5A vs. 5A/5A: OR=0.77, 95%CI: 0.64-0.94; I(2)=29.0%). Additionally, the associations were significant in Asian populations for three models: homozygote comparison (6A/6A vs. 5A/5A, OR=0.68, 95%CI: 0.52-0.90; I(2)=26.7%), heterozygote comparison (6A/5A vs. 5A/5A: OR=0.75, 95%CI: 0.58-0.98; I(2)=0.0%), and dominant model (6A/6A+6A/5A vs. 5A/5A: OR=0.69, 95%CI: 0.54-0.88; I(2)=0.5%). It was noteworthy that we had a contrary finding in non-smokers: the variant 6A/6A homozygote might statistically increase cancer risk compared with 6A/5A+5A/5A genotype (OR=1.92, 95%CI: 1.25-2.96; I(2)=72.7%)., Conclusion: This meta-analysis suggests that the -1171(5A>6A) polymorphism in MMP3 promoter region is not associated with overall cancer risk, but it may contribute to decreased cancer risk in Asian population when compared with Caucasian population and significantly reduce the risk of gastrointestinal cancer.

Background: Evidence suggest that IL-18 gene polymorphisms may be risk factors for several cancers. Increasing studies investigating the association between IL-18 gene promoter polymorphisms (-607 C>A and -137G>C) and cancer risk have yielded conflicting results., Methodology/principal Findings: We performed a meta-analysis of 26 studies including 4096 cases and 5222 controls. We assessed the strength of the association of IL-18 gene promoter -607 C>A and -137G>C polymorphisms with cancer risk and performed sub-group analyses by cancer types, ethnicities, source of controls and sample size. The pooled results revealed a significant increased risk of cancer susceptibility for -607 C>A (CA vs. CC: OR = 1.19, 95%CI: 1.04, 1.37, Pheterogeneity = 0.033; CA/AA vs. CC: OR = 1.17, 95% CI: 1.01, 1.34, Pheterogeneity = 0.007), but no significant association for -137 G>C was observed with overall cancer risk. Sub-group analyses revealed that an increased risk of nasopharyngeal carcinoma was both found for -607 C>A (CA/AA vs. CC: OR = 1.32, 95% CI: 1.04, 1.69, Pheterogeneity = 0.823) and -137G>C (GC/CC vs. GG: OR = 1.57, 95%CI: 1.26, 1.96, Pheterogeneity = 0.373). Consistent with the results of the genotyping analyses, the -607A/-137C and -607C/-137C haplotypes were associated with a significantly increased risk of nasopharyngeal carcinoma as compared with the -607C/-137G haplotype (-607A/-137C vs. -607C/-137G: OR = 1.26, 95%CI: 1.13, 1.40; Pheterogeneity = 0.569; -607C/-137C vs. -607C/-137G: OR = 1.14, 95%CI: 1.03, 1.27; Pheterogeneity = 0.775). As for gastrointestinal cancer, we also found that -607 C>A polymorphism was significantly associated with increased cancer risk (CA/AA vs. CC: OR = 1.25, 95% CI: 1.05, 1.50, Pheterogeneity = 0.458). Further sub-group analysis revealed that -137G>C polymorphism contributed to cancer risk in Asians but not in Caucasians (GC/CC vs. GG: OR = 1.31, 95%CI: 1.05, 1.64, Pheterogeneity<0.001)., Conclusions: The meta-analysis results suggest that IL-18 gene promoter -607 C>A polymorphism is significantly associated with overall cancer risk, especially in nasopharyngeal carcinoma and gastrointestinal cancer; and the -137 G>C polymorphism is associated with increased overall cancer risk in Asian populations and also significantly increases the risk of nasopharyngeal carcinoma.

Recent studies have demonstrated the importance of non-protein coding part of human genome in carcinogenesis and metastasis. Among numerous kinds of non-protein coding RNAs, long noncoding RNAs (lncRNAs) play a key regulatory role in cancer biology. LncRNAs are dysregulated in different kinds of cancer and the expression levels of certain lncRNAs are associated with recurrence, metastasis, and prognosis of cancer. It is also proved that overexpression of certain lncRNAs, behaving like oncogenes, can promote matrix invasion of cancer cells and tumor growth. In this review, we focus our attention on lncRNAs those have been validated in human cancer tissues to suggest reasonable strategies for future research. We introduce an update view of lncRNA, extract cancer-related lncRNAs from literature, and describe the known functions and possible underlying molecular mechanisms of some well investigated lncRNAs (MALAT1, HOX antisense intergenic RNA, and highly upregulated in hepatocellular cancer), as well as their current and potential future application in cancer diagnosis (PCA3) and treatment (H19).

Background: Single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) occurring in Toll-like receptors (TLRs) may contribute to cancer risk. Many polymorphisms of TLR2 have been studied for associations, but the findings are conflicting., Methodology/principal Findings: We performed a meta-analysis of 14 studies to confirm the association between TLR2+597T>C (rs3804099), +1350C>T (rs3804100) and Arg753Gln (rs5743708) polymorphisms and cancer risk. Odds ratio (OR) and 95% confidence intervals (95% CI) were used to assess the strength of associations. There was no significant association between TLR2+597T>C and cancer risk in the codominant models (CC vs. TT: OR = 1.01, 95%CI = 0.86-1.17, Pheterogeneity = 0.148; CT vs. TT: OR = 0.92, 95%CI = 0.69-1.23, Pheterogeneity < 0.001), the recessive model (CC vs. CT+TT: OR = 0.86, 95%CI = 0.67-1.10, Pheterogeneity = 0.007) , the dominant model (CC+CT vs. TT: OR = 0.93, 95%CI = 0.76-1.15, Pheterogeneity = 0.001) and the allele model (C vs. T: OR = 0.93, 95%CI = 0.81-1.08, Pheterogeneity = 0.019). Similarly, no significant associations between TLR2+1350C>T, Arg753Gln polymorphisms and cancer risk were found. However, in the sub-group analysis of ethnicities, the trend of pooled ORs in Asians was opposite to Caucasians., Conclusions: The present meta-analysis suggests that TLR2+597T>C (rs3804099), +1350C>T (rs3804100) and Arg753Gln (rs5743708) polymorphisms are not associated with cancer risk.

Background: Single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) occurred in pre-microRNAs or targets of microRNAs (miRs) may contribute to cancer risks. Since 2007, many studies have investigated the association between common SNPs located on hsa-miR-499 (rs3746444) and cancer risks; however, the results were inconclusive., Methodology/principal Findings: We conducted a meta-analysis of 12 studies that included 5765 cases and 7076 controls to identify the strength of association. Odds ratio (OR) and 95% confidence intervals (95% CI) were used to assess the strength of association. Overall, individuals with the variant AG (OR = 1.215, 95% CI: 1.027, 1.437; P(heterogeneity)<0.01) and AG/GG (OR = 1.227, 95% CI: 1.046, 1.439; P(heterogeneity)<0.01) genotypes were associated with a significantly increased risk of cancer than those with wild AA genotype. Sub-group analysis revealed that the variant AG (OR = 1.411, 95% CI: 1.142, 1.745; P(heterogeneity) = 0.01) and AG/GG (OR = 1.413, 95% CI: 1.163, 1.717, P(heterogeneity) = 0.01) genotypes still showed an increased risk of cancer in Asians; however, a trend of reduced risk of cancer was observed in Caucasians (AG vs. AA: OR = 0.948, 955 CI: 0.851, 1.057, P(heterogeneity) = 0.12; AG/GG vs. AA: OR = 0.959, 95% CI: 0.865, 1.064; P(heterogeneity) = 0.19). Meta-regression showed that ethnicity (p = 0.048) and sample size (p = 0.02) but not cancer types (p = 0.89) or source of control (p = 0.97) were the sources of heterogeneity., Conclusions: These meta-analysis results suggest that hsa-miR-499 polymorphism rs3746444 is associated with a significantly increased risk of cancer, especially in Asian populations.