Correlation Between PD-L1 Expression and 18F-FDG Uptake in Lung Adenocarcinoma

Abstract

Objective To evaluate the relation between the expression of programmed cell death protein receptor-1 (PD-L1) and 18F-deoxyglucose (18F-FDG) uptake in lung adenocarcinoma. Methods We retrospectively analyzed the clinical data of 102 patients with pathologically-confirmed lung adenocarcinoma who underwent 18F-FDG PET/CT examinations before treatment and immunohistochemical examination after treatment to detect the expression of PD-L1. The relation between the maximum standard uptake of 18F-FDG(SUVmax) and the expression of PD-L1 was analyzed. Results PD-L1 positive were detected in 50 patients (49%), the SUVmax was significantly higher in PD-L1 positive patients than that in the negative patients (6.59±5.03 vs. 2.89±4.65, P=0.0001). For the prediction of PD-L1 expression by SUVmax, the area under the ROC curve was 0.801, P=0.0001; when the cut off value was 1.70, the maximum value of Jordan index was 0.522. Conclusion 18F-FDG uptake is associated with PD-L1 expression in primary lung adenocarcinoma, and the patients with high SUVmax are more likely to harbor PD-L1 expression.

Keywords

• lung adenocarcinoma
• maximum standard uptake value
• positron emission computed tomography
• pd-l1