Relationships existed between putative PRL-3 and biologically aggressive phenotypes such as tumor stage (pooled OR = 2.25; 95% CI = 1.63–3.12; P<0.001, fixed effect), depth of invasion (pooled OR = 2.03; 95% CI = 1.38–2.98; P<0.001, fixed effect), vascular invasion (pooled OR = 2.52; 95% CI = 1.79–3.56; P<0.001, fixed effect), lymphatic invasion (pooled OR = 3.74; 95% CI = 2.49–5.63; P<0.001, fixed effect), and lymph node metastasis (pooled OR = 4.56; 95% CI = 2.37–8.76; P<0.001, random effect). This evidence concerns the gene PTP4A3 and metastatic malignant neoplasm in the lymph nodes.