Li J, et al. - Among 579 patients with lung cancer [most common malignant tumor in the world], researchers determined the prognostic significance of transforming growth factor beta (TGF-β), a member of a multifunctional cytokine family that regulates cell proliferation, expression. By Begg’s test and Egger’s test, the publication bias was detected. According to this systematic review and meta-analysis, TGF-β expression could significantly anticipate the worse prognosis in lung cancer patients. The small number of studies reviewed may affect this conclusion's validity. Consequently, the findings of the meta-analysis should be better verified in the future using updated analyses with additional relevant research. In any analysis, neither Begg's test nor Egger's test found a publishing bias.