Fig. 5

Results of the univariate random-effect meta-analysis using Cox proportional hazard models. A We estimated a combined effect size of logHRs for each gene across 13 cohorts. Shown are the combined effect sizes of all prognostic ProstaTrend genes (n = 1376). The x-axis represents the combined effect sizes and the y-axis the adjusted p-values (Benjamini–Hochberg correction for multiple testing) in log-space. The dashed horizontal line indicates an FDR of 0.05. For the highest ranked genes (by adjusted p-value) from the meta-analysis, 5 gene labels each with a combined effect size > 0 and < 0 are shown. The number in parentheses indicates the number of cohorts in which the respective gene was available. The numbers at the top of the plot indicate the number of significant ProstaTrend(-ffpe) genes with a combined effect size > 0 and < 0. B The y-axis shows the number of cohorts in which the ProstaTrend(-ffpe) genes had a significant combined effect size and were available. The x-axis indicates in how many cohorts the significant genes have a consistent direction of the logHRs. The labels indicate the number of genes in each case. C Scatter plot of all prognostic ProstaTrend genes (n = 1376). As in A, the x-axis represents the combined effect size of the logHRs. The y-axis represents the combined effect size of the log odds ratios derived from the logistic regression model predicting GS > 7 vs. ≤ 7. The meta-analysis for the log odds ratio was performed in the same way as for the logHRs. The colored dots indicate whether the combined effect sizes were significant (FDR < 0.05) in both meta-analyses approaches, in one meta-analysis or in none. The correlation coefficient is displayed in the upper right corner of the plot. D Forest plots for the 5 highest ranked genes by adjusted p-value. The logHR for each cohort is represented by a square. A horizontal line depicts the confidence interval (CI). The size of the square corresponds to the weight of the cohort in the meta-analysis. The combined effect and the CI are represented by a diamond. ProstaTrend-ffpe genes are highlighted with green colored horizontal bars; the blue ones are part of the original ProstaTrend signature