Abstract
BackgroundProgrammed death ligand 1 (PD‐L1) inhibitor has been approved as one of the standard therapies for various cancers. Some reports have shown that serum PD‐L1 level is associated with advanced tumor stages and poor prognosis; however, corresponding pathological information in esophageal cancer patients is lacking. Therefore, we evaluated the clinicopathological and prognostic impact of serum PD‐L1 levels in surgically treated esophageal cancer.MethodsA total of 150 patients who underwent radical resection for esophageal cancer were included in the study. Preoperative serum PD‐L1 levels were analyzed using the enzyme‐linked immunosorbent assay kit. A cutoff level of 65.6 pg/mL was used to divide the patients into two groups, and univariate and multivariate analyses were conducted to compare the clinicopathological characteristics and prognoses between these two groups.ResultsAlthough significant associations between serum PD‐L1 levels and clinicopathological variables were observed, serum PD‐L1 level was significantly associated with high neutrophil counts, high CRP levels, low albumin levels, and high squamous cell carcinoma antigen levels. Furthermore, serum PD‐L1 level was associated with poor overall survival independent to TNM factors.ConclusionsHigh preoperative level of serum PD‐L1 is a prognostic factor for poor overall survival in patients with surgically treated esophageal cancer.
Highlights
Despite the development of several multidisciplinary diagnosis/therapies, including surgery, radiotherapy, chemotherapy, and molecular approaches,[1] esophageal cancer continues to remain as one of the worst malignant neoplasms of the digestive system.[2]
The expression of tissue programmed death ligand 1 (PD-L1) was assessed; an assessment of serum Programmed death ligand 1 (PD-L1) levels to evaluate the clinicopathological characteristics of the patients with esophageal cancer has not been made so far
Several reports have shown that high serum PD-L1 level is a prognostic factor for poor overall survival in patients with gastric cancer,[5-7] hepatocellular carcinoma,[8] and biliary tract cancer.[9]
Summary
This research was supported by the Project for Cancer Research and Therapeutic Evolution (P-CREAT) from the Japan Agency for Medical Research and Development, AMED, supported by JSPS KAKENHI Grant Number JP26462029 and a research grant of Toho University School of Medicine.
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Free) 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a call
