Programmed cell death-ligand 1 and vascular endothelial growth expression in non-small lung cancer and its clinical significance

Abstract

Objective To investigate the expression of programmed cell death-ligand 1 (PD-L1) and vascular endothelial growth (VEGF) in non-small-cell lung carcinoma (NSCLC), and its relationship with the clinicopathologic features and prognosis. Methods Immunohistochemistry was used to detect the expression of PD-L1 and VEGF in 71 cases of NSCLC, and its correlation with the clinicopathologic features and prognosis of NSCLC was analyzed. Results The positive expression rate of PD-L1 and VEGF was 43.7% (31/71) and 39.4% (28/107), the expression of PD-L1 was correlated with pathological type(P=0.000), pTNM stage (P=0.042), Ki-67 (P=0.012), gender (P=0.047) and prognosis (P=0.002), the expression of VEGF was correlated with pTNM stage (P=0.004) and prognosis (P=0.000). In addition, the PD-L1 and VEGF was positively correlated (r=0.394, P=0.001), and this correlation exerted an negative influence on prognosis, which prompt that this subgroup patent has a shorter DFS. Cox multivariate survival analysis showed that VEGF and pTNM stage are the independent factors influencing the DFS of NSCLC patients (P=0.001, P=0.022). Conclusion PD-L1 and VEGF are highly expressed in NSCLC tissues, and there is a positive correlation between them, which may be associated with immune escape mechanism of tumors. Key words: Programmed cell death-ligand 1; Vascular endothelial growth; Non-small-cell lung carcinoma; Immunotherapy