Clinicopathological and Prognostic Significance of Programmed Death Ligand-1 SP142 Expression in 132 Patients With Triple-negative Breast Cancer

Abstract

Background/Aim: The prognostic value of programmed death ligand-1 (PD-L1) expression in triplenegative breast cancer (TNBC) has not been sufficiently investigated. In this study, we examined whether PD-L1 expression status is associated with clinicopathological features and outcomes of patients with TNBC. Patients and Methods: Immunostaining for PD-L1 SP142 was performed on tissue microarrays containing 132 TNBC samples. High PD-L1 expression was defined as ≥10% of the tumor area occupied by PD-L1-expressing cells. Results: patients showed high PD-L1 SP142 expression on immune cells (ICs). High IC PD-L1 expression was significantly correlated with smaller tumor size (p=0.030), absence of lymphovascular invasion (p=0.024), and fewer lymph node metastases (p=0.002). Multivariate survival analysis revealed that high IC PD-L1 expression independently predicted better disease-free survival (DFS) of TNBC patients. Conclusion: High PD-L1 SP142 expression on ICs was significantly associated with favorable clinicopathological parameters and better outcomes in patients with TNBC. Our observations suggest that high IC PD-L1 expression can be used as an independent prognostic marker for predicting better DFS in patients with TNBC.Triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC) is an aggressive type of breast cancer that lacks expression of estrogen and progesterone receptors and amplification or over-expression of human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 (HER2) (1-3). TNBC accounts for nearly one-fifth of all cases of breast cancer (4, 5), and more frequently affects young women (6). TNBC patients exhibit adverse clinicopathological features and unfavorable prognoses compared to patients with other types of breast cancer (7, 8). Particularly, early-stage TNBC is associated with a higher risk of recurrence than other types, and advanced-stage disease has a poor prognosis with a median survival of 18 months (9). The absence of hormone receptors renders endocrine and human epidermal growth factor receptor 2-targeted therapies ineffective, leaving cytotoxic chemotherapy as the standard treatment option (10). However, chemotherapy for TNBC patients results in unsatisfactory long-term results, such as suboptimal response rates and short overall survival and response durations (11-13). Therefore, novel therapeutic strategies to improve outcomes are urgently needed. 2890

Age-related Differences in Spatially Resolved Transcriptomic Profiles of Patients With Hormone Receptor-positive Breast Carcinoma

“…They also reviewed the electronic medical records and pathology reports to collect the following clinicopathological information: tumor size, histological grade, lymph node status, estrogen receptor (ER) expression status, progesterone receptor (PR) expression status, HER2 expression status, Ki-67 labeling index, mitotic count, and ORS. The expression statuses of HRs and Ki-67 were determined by immunostaining (19)(20)(21)(22)(23). ER and PR immunoreactivities were analyzed using the Allred scoring system (24).…”

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