Prognostic significance of programmed death-1 and programmed death-ligand 1 expression in patients with esophageal squamous cell carcinoma

Abstract

AimsTo evaluate the expression of programmed death-1 (PD-1) and programmed death-ligand 1 (PD-L1) and their clinical and prognostic significance in primary esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC).ResultsThe expression rate of PD-1 and PD-L1 in ESCC was 33.5% (117/349) and 41.4% (222/536), respectively. PD-L1 expression differed significantly by tumor location, grade, lymph node metastases, and disease stage (P < 0.05). Moreover, its expression was associated with the disease free survival (DFS). Patients with positive PD-L1 expression had reduced risk for disease relapse compared to those without PD-L1 expression (Hazard ratio [HR] = 0.75, 95% confidence interval [CI]: 0.56–1.00, P = 0.048). Kaplan-Meier curves showed the similar result, P = 0.047. However, there was no significant correlation between PD-1 expression and clinicopathological factors or outcome in ESCC (P > 0.05).MethodsThe expression of PD-1 and PD-L1 was assessed by immunohistochemistry on tissue microarrays from 536 primary ESCC who underwent surgery during January 2008 and April 2012 in Zhejiang Cancer Hospital. Chi-square test and Cox proportional hazards regression were employed to analyze the associations between their expressions and clinicopathological variables and survival.ConclusionsOur results suggested that PD-L1 could be a favorable indicator of prognosis in ESCC.

PD‐L1 expression, CD8+ and CD4+ lymphocyte rate are predictive of pathological complete response after neoadjuvant chemoradiotherapy for squamous cell cancer of the thoracic esophagus

“…On the contrary, in patients undergoing surgery alone, PD‐L1 expression was positively associated with a better prognosis . Similarly, PD‐L1 expression on immune cells was an independent prognostic factor for patients with esophageal SCC . In our series, patients with a high expression of PD‐L1 either on tumor cells or on lymphocyte cells had a better overall survival than those with low expression of PD‐L1.…”

Chemotherapeutic Treatments Increase PD-L1 Expression in Esophageal Squamous Cell Carcinoma through EGFR/ERK Activation

“…Although other reports suggest that PD-L1 positivity is correlated with poor survival, our results did not show any significant correlation between PD-L1 and survival (Supplementary Figure 1). Interestingly, there is another ESCC study reporting the opposite correlation, as patients with PD-L1 expression had a longer disease-free survival than the patients without PD-1 expression [24]. Further studies are needed to elucidate the correlation between PD-L1 and other clinical parameters in different populations.…”

High number of PD‐1 positive intratumoural lymphocytes predicts survival benefit of cytokine‐induced killer cells for hepatocellular carcinoma patients

“…PD‐1 was evaluated by the intensity of staining and the proportion of positively stained tumour‐infiltrating lymphocytes. The staining index was calculated by the proportion of positive tumour‐infiltrating lymphocytes multiply the staining intensity score, which was similar to other studies . The proportion of lymphocytes was scored as 0 (no positive cells), 1 (0%‐30% positive cells), 2 (30%‐60% positive cells) and 3 (>60% positive cells).…”

“…The staining index was calculated by the proportion of positive tumour-infiltrating lymphocytes multiply the staining intensity score, which was similar to other studies. 12,13 The proportion of lymphocytes was scored as 0 (no positive cells), 1 (0%-30% positive cells), 2 (30%-60% positive cells) and 3 (>60% positive cells). The intensity of staining was graded: 0 (no staining), 1 (weak staining = light yellow), 2 (moderate staining = yellow brown) and 3 (strong staining = brown).…”