<abstract xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml">

<sec id="j_raon-2017-0037_s_101">
<h3>Background</h3>
<p>With introduction of immunotherapy (IT) into the treatment of advanced non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC), a need for predictive biomarker became apparent. Programmed death ligand 1 (PD-L1) protein expression is most widely explored predictive marker for response to IT. We assessed PD-L1 expression in tumor cells (TC) and immune cells (IC) of squamous-cell carcinoma (SCC) and adenocarcinoma (AC) patients.</p>
</sec>
<sec id="j_raon-2017-0037_s_102">
<h3>Patients and methods</h3>
<p>We obtained 54 surgically resected tumor specimens and assessed PD-L1 expression by immunohistochemistry after staining them with antibody SP142 (Ventana, USA). Clinicopathological characteristics were acquired from the hospital registry database. Results were analyzed according to cut-off values of ≥ 5% and ≥ 10% of PD-L1 expression on either TC or IC.</p>
</sec>
<sec id="j_raon-2017-0037_s_103">
<h3>Results</h3>
<p>29 (54%) samples were AC and 25 (46%) were SCC. PD-L1 expression was significantly higher in TC of SCC compared to AC at both cut-off values (52% vs. 17%, p = 0.016 and 52% vs. 14%, p = 0.007, respectively) no difference in PD-L1 expression in IC of SCC and AC was found. In AC alone, PD-L1 expression was significantly higher in IC compared to TC at both cut-off values (72% vs. 17%, p &lt; 0.001 and 41% vs. 14%, p = 0.008, respectively), while no significant difference between IC and TC PD-L1 expression was revealed in SCC.</p>
</sec>
<sec id="j_raon-2017-0037_s_104">
<h3>Conclusions</h3>
<p>Our results suggest a significantly higher PD-L1 expression in TC of SCC compared to AC, regardless of the cut-off value. PD-L1 expression in IC is high in both histological subtypes of NSCLC, and adds significantly to the overall positivity of AC but not SCC.</p>
</sec>
</abstract>

Background
With introduction of immunotherapy (IT) into the treatment of advanced non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC), a need for predictive biomarker became apparent. Programmed death ligand 1 (PD-L1) protein expression is most widely explored predictive marker for response to IT. We assessed PD-L1 expression in tumor cells (TC) and immune cells (IC) of squamous-cell carcinoma (SCC) and adenocarcinoma (AC) patients.


Patients and methods
We obtained 54 surgically resected tumor specimens and assessed PD-L1 expression by immunohistochemistry after staining them with antibody SP142 (Ventana, USA). Clinicopathological characteristics were acquired from the hospital registry database. Results were analyzed according to cut-off values of ≥ 5% and ≥ 10% of PD-L1 expression on either TC or IC.


Results
29 (54%) samples were AC and 25 (46%) were SCC. PD-L1 expression was significantly higher in TC of SCC compared to AC at both cut-off values (52% vs. 17%, p = 0.016 and 52% vs. 14%, p = 0.007, respectively) no difference in PD-L1 expression in IC of SCC and AC was found. In AC alone, PD-L1 expression was significantly higher in IC compared to TC at both cut-off values (72% vs. 17%, p < 0.001 and 41% vs. 14%, p = 0.008, respectively), while no significant difference between IC and TC PD-L1 expression was revealed in SCC.


Conclusions
Our results suggest a significantly higher PD-L1 expression in TC of SCC compared to AC, regardless of the cut-off value. PD-L1 expression in IC is high in both histological subtypes of NSCLC, and adds significantly to the overall positivity of AC but not SCC.

PD-L1 expression in squamous-cell carcinoma and adenocarcinoma of the lung

Radiology and Oncology

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

{"article-title":"PD-L1 expression in squamous-cell carcinoma and adenocarcinoma of the lung"}

Background
With introduction of immunotherapy (IT) into the treatment of advanced non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC), a need for predictive biomarker became...

Total	N = 54
Histology
Squamous-cell carcinoma	25 (46%)
Adenocarcinoma	29 (54%)
Sex
Male	34 (63%)
Female	20 (37%)
Age (years)
Mean (SD)	62.4 (8.6)
Smoking status
Current smoker	25 (46%)
Former-smoker (>1 year)	21 (39%)
Non-smoker	0 (0%)
Unknown	8 (15%)

	Tumor specimens N	PD-L1 positivity (cut-off ≥ 5%)				PD-L1 positivity (cut-off ≥ 10%)

		TC or IC	TC	IC	p value	TC or IC	TC	IC	p value

		N (%)	N (%)	N (%)	TC vs. IC	N (%)	N (%)	N (%)	TC vs. IC
Total	54	43 (80)	18 (33)	40 (74)		31 (57)	17 (31)	28 (52)
Adenocarcinoma	29	21 (72)	5 (17)	21 (72)	< 0.001	12 (41)	4 (14)	12 (41)	0.008
Squamous-cell carcinoma	25	22 (88)	13 (52)	19 (76)	0.146	19 (76)	13 (52)	16 (64)	0.508

PD-L1 expression in squamous-cell carcinoma and adenocarcinoma of the lung

Article Category: Research Article

Online veröffentlicht: 14. Sept. 2017

Seitenbereich: 357 - 362

Eingereicht: 27. Apr. 2017

Akzeptiert: 09. Aug. 2017

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1515/raon-2017-0037

© 2017 Urska Janzic, Izidor Kern, Andrej Janzic, Luka Cavka, Tanja Cufer

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

Figure 1

Figure 2

Clinicopathological patient characteristics

PD-L1 positivity according to histology for cut-off value of 5% and higher and 10% and higher