Intratumoral immune cells expressing PD-1/PD-L1 and their prognostic implications in cancer: a meta-analysis. Issue 4 (November 2018)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Kim, Younghoon; Wen, Xianyu; Cho, Nam Yun; Kang, Gyeong Hoon
• Is Part Of: International journal of biological markers. Volume 33:Issue 4(2018)
• Page Start: 467
• Page End: 474
• Publication Date: 2018-11
• Subjects: Tumor-infiltrating lymphocyte -- PD-1 -- PD-L1 -- Prognosis -- Meta-analysis; Cell receptors -- Periodicals; Histochemistry -- Periodicals; Tumor markers -- Periodicals; Tumor antigens -- Periodicals; 616.99407582
• DOI: 10.1177/1724600818770941
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0393-6155

Abstract

Background: The prognostic value of immune cells expressing programmed cell death 1 (PD-1) and PD-1 ligand 1 (PD-L1) in cancer are controversial, and the potential differential impact of using tissue microarrays and whole tissue sections to assess the positivity of immune cells has not been addressed. Methods: The current study included 30 eligible studies with 7251 patients that evaluated the relationship between tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes expressing PD-1/PD-L1 and overall survival and disease-free survival, or progression-free survival. Subgroup analysis was based on the tissue type of cancer and the type of tissue sampling (tissue microarray or whole tissue section). Results: In the meta-analysis, PD-1-positive and PD-L1-positive tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes had a positive effect on disease-free survival or progression-free survival (hazard ratio [HR] 0.732; 95% confidence interval [CI] 0.565, 0.947; and HR 0.727; 95% CI 0.584, 0.905, respectively). PD-L1-positive tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes had a positive impact on overall survival in studies using tissue microarray (HR 0.586; 95% CI 0.476, 0.721), but had a poor impact when only whole tissue sections were considered (HR 1.558; 95% CI 1.232, 1.969). Lung cancer was associated with good overall survival and disease-free survival (HR 0.639; 95% CI 0.491, 0.831; and HR 0.693; 95% CI 0.538, 0.891, respectively) for PD-1-positive tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes, and colorectal cancer showed favorable disease-free survival (HR 0.471; 95% CI 0.308, 0.722) for PD-L1-positive tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes. Conclusion: Immune cells expressing PD-1 and PD-L1 within tumors are associated with the prognosis. However, the correlation may vary among different tumor types and by the type of tissue sampling used for the assessment.