Cancer Management and Research (Jun 2021)

Prognostic Significance of Serum PD-L1 Level in Patients with Locally Advanced or Metastatic Esophageal Squamous Cell Carcinoma Treated with Combination Cytotoxic Chemotherapy

  • Fu R,
  • Jing CQ,
  • Li XR,
  • Tan ZF,
  • Li HJ

Journal volume & issue
Vol. Volume 13
pp. 4935 – 4946

Abstract

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Rong Fu,1 Chuan-Qing Jing,1 Xiu-Rong Li,2 Zhao-Feng Tan,2 Hui-Jie Li2 1Clinical Department of Integrated Traditional Chinese and Western Medicine, The First Clinical Medical College of Shandong University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Jinan, People’s Republic of China; 2Affiliated Hospital of Shandong University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Jinan, People’s Republic of ChinaCorrespondence: Hui-Jie Li Email [email protected]: There are no useful biomarkers for the clinical outcome of advanced esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC). In this study, we aimed to investigate the prognostic value of soluble PD-L1 (sPD-L1) in serum of patients with locally advanced or metastatic ESCC who received cytotoxic chemotherapy as first-line treatment.Materials and Methods: This study evaluated the expression pattern of PD-L1 by immunohistochemistry and sPD-L1 concentration, and correlation with clinicopathological factors and overall survival (OS) in 190 patients with ESCC.Results: sPD-L1 concentration was highly expressed in ESCC, especially in female patients. Patients with a high sPD-L1 level (≥ 0.63 ng/mL) had a shorter OS than those with a low sPD-L1 level (< 0.63 ng/mL). In a multivariate analysis, high sPD-L1 concentration remained an independent prognostic factor of OS after adjustment for possible confounders. However, tissue PD-L1 expression level was non-prognostic in this study.Conclusion: There was no significant correlation between serum sPD-L1 concentration and tissue PD-L1 expression level. sPD-L1 concentration before treatment could be an effective and convenient biomarker of prognosis in patients with locally advanced or metastatic ESCC treated with combination cytotoxic chemotherapy.Keywords: esophageal squamous cell carcinoma, PD-L1, soluble PD-L1, prognosis, clinical outcome, chemotherapy

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