PubMed, Web of Science, and China National Knowledge Infrastructure were used to retrieve relevant articles. The pooled standard mean difference with 95% confidence interval was calculated.
Totally, 10 studies from 7 publications were included. The levels of FOXO3a were significantly decreased in patients with autoimmune diseases compared with healthy controls (standard mean difference, -1.045; 95% confidence interval, -1.892 to -0.197). When stratified by disease, FOXO3a levels were significantly decreased in rheumatoid arthritis (RA) and inflammatory bowel disease (IBD), but were significantly increased in systemic lupus erythematosus. FOXO3a levels of specific tissues or cells in patients with autoimmune diseases were significantly decreased, but no significant difference was observed in the subgroup of peripheral blood mononuclear cells. In the subgroup analysis combining disease and sample, significant differences of FOXO3a were observed in non-PMBCs of RA and IBD patients.
Our study indicated that FOXO3a were significantly decreased in patients with autoimmune diseases. FOXO3a levels was a potential therapeutic target of autoimmune diseases.