Review for 10.1186/s12876-017-0665-y (2017)

Reviewe r’s report  
 
Title: p53 expression in patients with ulcerative col itis - associated with dysplasia and 
carcinoma: a systematic meta -analysis  
 
Version: 1 Date: 06 Jul 2017  
 
Reviewer: Julajak Limsrivilai  
 
Reviewer's report:  
 
I would like to thank the authors for addressing my comments on the previous version. I have a 
few remaining comments.  
1. I commented that some eligible patients (patients with UC a nd had P53 evaluation) were not 
included in this meta -analysis because they were reported in the articles including both 
Crohn's disease and UC. The author responded to this comment by stating in the limitation 
that "Finally, three eligible studies reporte d the data between p53 expression and dysplasia 
and cancer in patients with IBD [43 -45], more studies with large sample sizes are essential to 
further perform a meta -analysis to assess the correlation of p53 expression in IBD in the 
future.". In my opinion , the limitation is that the author could not include all UC patients who 
had p53 evaluation because the studies reporting p53 expression in IBD did not report the 
results of UC and Crohn's separately.  
2. The author used Newcastle -Ottowa scale in evaluat ion of the quality of the included studies, 
and added the total scores in Table 1, but without the detail of the score in each category. It 
would be better to show the complete results in another table, possibly as a supplementary 
document.  
Are the methods appropriate and well described?  
If not, please specify what is required in yo ur comments to the authors.  
 
Yes 
 
Does the work include the necessary controls?  
If not, please specify which controls are required in your comments to the authors.  
 
Yes 
 
Are the conclusions drawn adequately supported by the data shown?  
If not, please explain in your comments to the authors.  
 
Yes 
 
Are you able to assess any statistics in the manuscript or would you recommend an  
additional statistical review?  
If an additional statistical review is recommended, please specify what aspects req uire further  
assessment in your comments to the editors.  
 
I am able to assess the statistics  
 
Quality of written English  
Please indicate the quality of language in the manuscript:  
 
Acceptable  
 
Declaration of competing interests  
Please complete a declaration of  competing interests, considering the following questions:  
 
1. Have you in the past five years received reimbursements, fees, funding, or salary from an  
organisation that may in any way gain or lose financially from the publication of this  
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3. Do you hold or are you currently applying for any patents r elating to the content of the  
manuscript?  
 
4. Have you received reimbursements, fees, funding, or salary from an organization that 
holds  or has applied for patents relating to the content of the manuscript?  
 
5. Do you have any other financial competing inter ests?  
 
6. Do you have any non -financial competing interests in relation to this paper?  
 
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below.  If your reply is yes to any, please give details below.  
 
I declare th at I have no competing interests  
 
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