Abstract
BackgroundProgrammed death ligand 1 (PD-L1) is a ligand for the inhibitory programmed cell death protein 1 (PD-1), which are targeted by several anti-PD-1 and PD-L1 drugs for a variety of human cancers. However, only a few studies have evaluated PD-L1 expression in esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC) with a large Chinese cohort. Our present study is to evaluate the association of PD-L1 expression with clinicopathological features on ESCC.MethodsUsing tissue microarray and immunohistochemistry, PD-L1 expression on tumor cells and tumor-infiltrating immune cells was studied in 378 advanced ESCC patients without neoadjuvant chemoradiotherapy. Its correlation with clinicopathological parameters was analyzed.ResultsPD-L1 was expressed on 29.9% (113/378) ESCC tumor cells and 40.2% (152/378) tumor-infiltrating immune cells. PD-L1 expression in tumor cells was significantly correlated with age, degree of differentiation, T stage, N stage and metachronous hematogenous metastasis, and PD-L1 expression in tumor-infiltrating immune cells was significantly associated with N stage (P < 0.05). Patients with PD-L1 expression in tumor cells had poor disease-free survival (Hazard ratio [HR] = 1.436, P = 0.009). There was a positive association between tumor cells and tumor-infiltrating immune cells for PD-L1 expression (r = 0.16, P = 0.002). However, PD-L1 expression in tumor-infiltrating immune cells was not significantly correlated with disease-free survival and overall survival.ConclusionsPD-L1 expression in tumor cells and tumor infiltrating immune cells is not only an indicator for immunotherapy, but also significantly related with age, differentiation, stage, metastasis and disease free survival.
Highlights
Programmed death ligand 1 (PD-L1) is a ligand for the inhibitory programmed cell death protein 1 (PD1), which are targeted by several anti-PD-1 and PD-L1 drugs for a variety of human cancers
The immune checkpoint programmed cell death protein 1 (PD-1) is expressed in tumor-infiltrating immune cells including T-lymphocytes, B-lymphocytes, natural killer cells, monocytes, and dendritic cells. It is engaged by the tumor expressed ligands including programmed death ligand 1 (PD-L1) and PD-L2, which increases the apoptosis of activated tumor-reactive T-cells and promotes the growth of tumor cells in vivo [3]
PD-L1 expression in esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC) tumor cells and its correlation with clinicopathological parameters PD-L1 was found to be located on the cell membrane and/or cytoplasm in ESCC tumor cells and tumor-infiltrating immune cells (Fig. 1)
Summary
Programmed death ligand 1 (PD-L1) is a ligand for the inhibitory programmed cell death protein 1 (PD1), which are targeted by several anti-PD-1 and PD-L1 drugs for a variety of human cancers. Only a few studies have evaluated PD-L1 expression in esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC) with a large Chinese cohort. The immune checkpoint programmed cell death protein 1 (PD-1) is expressed in tumor-infiltrating immune cells including T-lymphocytes, B-lymphocytes, natural killer cells, monocytes, and dendritic cells. Our study aims to study the expression of PD-L1 in T2-T4a ESCC in a Chinese population and analyze its correlation with clinicopathological parameters and prognosis. These might provide a clue of the potential immune based therapy strategy for ESCC patients
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