Clinical, Cosmetic and Investigational Dermatology (Jan 2023)
PD-L1 Biomolecules Associated with Clinical Features in Non-Melanoma Skin Cancer
Abstract
Dan Li,1 Liwen Ma,1 Jun Bao,1 Lei Cao,2 Wei Min3 1Department of Dermatology, the Affiliated Hospital of Nanjing University Medical School, Nanjing, People’s Republic of China; 2Clinical Immunology Laboratory, the First Affiliated Hospital of Soochow University, Soochow University, Suzhou, People’s Republic of China; 3Department of Dermatology, the First Affiliated Hospital of Soochow University, Soochow University, Suzhou, People’s Republic of ChinaCorrespondence: Wei Min, Email [email protected]: Increasing evidence has indicated that several B7 family members play critical roles in the progress of many cancers. However, the clinical significance of the B7 family in cutaneous squamous cell carcinoma (cSCC) is still elusive. The purpose of this study is to investigate the potential role of B7-H1 biomolecules (PD-L1) in regulating the tumorigenesis and progression of cSCC, the most common non-melanoma skin cancer.Methods: We collected transcriptome data of cSCC patients from TCGA databases (n = 496) and subjected the transcription data to bioinformatical analysis. Differential expression of B7-H1 genes with a grade-dependent pattern was identified. We collected paraffin sections of skin squamous carcinoma and analyzed by immunohistochemical staining. We further examined the PD-L1 levels of CD14+ cells in peripheral blood of each cSCC patient and normal subjects by flow cytometry.Results: It was found that higher expression of PD-L1 was associated with poor prognosis of cSCC patients and shorter overall survival. These observations were further verified in the clinical paraffin sections and in peripheral blood T cells.Conclusion: Our study reveals that PD-L1 is a potential prognostic marker in clinical prognosis for cSCC patients and could be valuable for cSCC treatment.Keywords: PD-L1, cutaneous squamous cell carcinoma, tumour progression, immunotherapy
