We pooled 11 studies including 2087 patients and found that HOXD10, HOXA5 and HOXC10 were associated with a decreased tumour size (HOXD10: OR = 0.37, 95% CI: 0.25–0.54; HOXA5 (2018): OR = 0.20, 95% CI: 0.07–0.55; HOXA5 (2019): OR = 0.23, 95% CI: 0.08–0.67; and HOXC10: OR = 0.38, 95% CI: 0.15–0.98), while the overexpression of HOXA10, HOXB7 and HOXD4 was associated with an increased tumour size (HOXA10 (2015): OR = 2.39, 95% CI: 1.40–4.09; HOXB7 (2017): OR = 2.60, 95% CI: 1.61–4.20; and HOXD4: OR = 2.71, 95% CI: 1.28–5.74) (Fig. 5b). Here, HOXD10 is linked to neoplasm.