Background: Plasmacytoma variant translocation 1 (PVT1) has recently been reported to be aberrantly expressed and serves as a prognostic biomarker in many types of cancers. However, its prognostic significance remains controversial. Here, we conducted a meta-analysis to investigate the prognostic value of PVT1 expression in cancers. Results: A total of 2109 patients from 20 studies were included. The results showed that elevated PVT1 expression predicted a poor outcome for overall survival (OS) in nine types of cancers (HR = 1.40, 95% CI: 1.21-1.59). Subgroup analysis indicated that there was a significant association between PVT1 overexpression and poor OS of patients with gastric cancer, gynecology cancer and lung cancer. Furthermore, we also found a negative significant relationship between PVT1 expression and disease-free survival (HR = 1.83, 95% CI: 1.39-2.27), progressionf-ree survival (HR = 1.63, 95% CI: 1.34-1.93) and recurrence-free survival (HR = 1.74, 95% CI: 1.01-2.47). In addition, the level of PVT1 expression was positively related to tumor size, TNM stage, lymph node metastasis and distant metastases. Materials and Methods: A systematic search was performed through the PubMed, EMBASE, Web of Science, Ovid and Cochrane library databases for eligible studies on prognostic value of PVT1 in cancers from inception up to June, 2017. The pooled hazard ratios (HRs) or odds ratios (ORs) with 95% confidence intervals (CIs) were used to evaluate the association between PVT1 expression and clinical outcomes. Conclusions: PVT1 expression positively related to tumor size, TNM stages, lymph node metastasis and distant metastases, and served as a prognostic biomarker in different types of cancers.