The Association Between the Change of Soluble Programmed Cell Death Ligand-1 (sPD-L1) and the Radiosensitivity in Patients With Hypopharyngeal Squamous Cell Carcinoma

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The aim of this study was to evaluate the change of sPD-L1 in the plasma of hypopharyngeal squamous cell carcinoma (HSCC) patients before and after radiotherapy (RT) and to explore their relationship with the sensitivity to radiotherapy.A total of 50 patients and 12 healthy individuals were enrolled. All blood samples were collected before RT and 38 blood samples were obtained after RT. Twenty-three matched formalin-fixed, paraffin-embedded (FFPE) specimen from patient tumor biopsies were examined PD-L1 immunohistochemistry, and the sPD-L1 levels were quantified by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA).The level of plasma sPD-L1 in patients were higher than healthy individuals. Plasma sPD-L1 levels at diagnosis correlated positively with T stage, but no association and difference between baseline sPD-L1 levels and other factors, including gender, age, N stage, prognostic stage and blood cell counts. The level of sPD-L1 in plasma had moderate correlations with PD-L1 expression on tumor cells. Notably, it is classified into decreased or increased groups depending on change of the concentration of sPD-L1 after RT, and the study found the sensitivity to radiotherapy of decreased group were higher than increased group.The study reported that sPD-L1 can be detectable in the plasma of HSCC. Besides, the change of plasma sPD-L1 following radiotherapy might be of guided significance for predicting the sensitivity to radiotherapy.