Abstract
Non-small-cell lung carcinoma (NSCLC) is a disease characterized by the upregulation of programmed death ligand 1 (PD-L1) along with alterations in epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) and HER2-neu (HER2) amplification in addition to EGFR mutation. In the present study, the expression of PD-L1 and EGFR and HER2-neu in NSCLC was studied and their expression in relation to various clinicopathological parameters was analysed. We studied 49 core biopsy specimens of NSCLC for PD-L1, EGFR and HER2-neu expressions using immunohistochemistry. Scoring was based on the intensity and percentage of tumour cells expressing the immunomarkers. PD-L1, EGFR and HER2-neu expression was seen in 20.4%, 32.7% and 14.2% of NSCLC, respectively. The analysis showed no significant difference in PD-L1 expression in relation to any clinicopathological parameters. Low or negative EGFR expression was significantly associated with positive lymph node status (P=0.04). HER2-neu expression showed a significant difference in relation to tumour histology (adenocarcinoma; P=0.01). Also, there was no difference noted with PD-L1 expression in relation to EGFR and HER2-neu expression. As our study has a small number of cases, the validation of the predictive and prognostic value of these markers in lung cancer patients requires further studies.
Highlights
Lung cancer is the most commonly diagnosed cancer accounting for 11.6% of the total cases and being the main cause of cancer death constituting 18.4% of the total cancer deaths [1]
Non-small-cell lung carcinoma (NSCLC) is a disease characterized by the upregulation of programmed death ligand 1 (PD-L1) along with alterations in epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) and HER2-neu (HER2) amplification in addition to EGFR mutation
According to the American Joint Committee on Cancer (AJCC) tumour staging classification, only 2 cases were of cT1, 9 cases were of cT2, 13 cases of cT3 and 25 were cases of cT4 stage
Summary
Lung cancer is the most commonly diagnosed cancer accounting for 11.6% of the total cases and being the main cause of cancer death constituting 18.4% of the total cancer deaths [1]. A distinguishing feature of NSCLC is the molecular mutation subsets in the epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR), which is a major oncogenic driver in this cancer [5]. Another notable oncogene addiction in NSCLC is the human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 (HER2-neu) [5]. Some studies have suggested that HER2-neu overexpression in NSCLC is a weak prognostic factor [9]
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