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Prognostic significance of NLRP-3 expression in solid cancers: a systematic review and meta-analysis.

Nishant Thakur·Muhammad Alamgeer·Manu Kumar·Quinton Luong·Jamshid Abdul-Ghafar·Surein Arulananda·Ashley Mansell·Daniel J Gough
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Abstract

BACKGROUND: The inflammasome is a critical immunological sensor comprised of NLRP-3, ASC, and CASPASE-1. Mutations in NLRP-3 are prevalent in inflammatory diseases. However, the role of NLRP-3 in cancer is controversial. This study investigates whether NLRP-3 expression is associated with clinical outcomes in patients with solid cancers. METHODS: PubMed (MEDLINE), Embase, Cochrane, and Google Scholar were searched for articles reporting NLRP-3 expression and disease outcome data in cancer patients. RevMan Review Manager was used to calculate pooled hazard ratios and Mantel-Haenszel pooled odds ratios. RNA sequencing datasets from the TCGA Pan-Cancer (PANCAN) were used for external validation. RESULTS: Patients with higher NLRP-3 expression showed a significant association with larger tumor size, advanced tumor grade, TNM stage, and presence of metastasis. High NLRP-3 expression has a significant association with poor OS (HR:2.12, 95% CI = 1.49-3.03), p&#x2009;<&#x2009;0.0001) and DFS (HR:1.86, 95% CI = 1.30- 2.65, p&#x2009;=&#x2009;0.0007). Subgroup analysis showed that higher NLRP-3 expression is associated with worse OS in head and neck cancer (HR: 2.77, 95% CI = 1.88-4.09, p&#x2009;<&#x2009;0.00001), colorectal cancers (HR:2.14, 95% CI= 1.59- 2.87, p&#x2009;<&#x2009;0.00001), and pancreatic cancer patients (HR: 3.19, 95% CI = 1.73-5.91, p&#x2009;=&#x2009;0.0002). CONCLUSION: High NLRP-3 expression is associated with advanced disease and poor outcomes in many solid tumours.

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HumansNLR Family, Pyrin Domain-Containing 3 ProteinPrognosisNeoplasmsBiomarkers, TumorGene Expression Regulation, NeoplasticInflammasomesNLRP-3and disease-free survivalcancer stem cellsepithelial&#x2013;mesenchymal transitionoverall survivalprognosistumour microenvironmentJournal ArticleSystematic ReviewMeta-AnalysisResearch Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

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Nishant Thakur, Muhammad Alamgeer, Manu Kumar, Quinton Luong, Jamshid Abdul-Ghafar, Surein Arulananda, Ashley Mansell, Daniel J Gough. 2026-08-20. Prognostic significance of NLRP-3 expression in solid cancers: a systematic review and meta-analysis.. https://doi.org/10.1080/07853890.2026.2712701

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Biomarkers, Tumor subjectGene Expression Regulation, Neoplastic subjectHumans subjectInflammasomes subjectJournal Article subjectJournal Article; Systematic Review; Meta-Analysis; Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't resourceMeta-Analysis subjectNLR Family, Pyrin Domain-Containing 3 Protein subjectNLRP-3 subjectNeoplasms subjectSystematic reviews studyand disease-free survival subjectcancer stem cells subjectepithelial&#x2013;mesenchymal transition subjectoverall survival subject

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