Open AccessPrognostic value of programmed death‐ligand 1 expression in patients with stage III colorectal cancer
Author(s) -
Koganemaru Shigehiro,
Inoshita Naoko,
Miura Yuji,
Miyama Yu,
Fukui Yudai,
Ozaki Yukinori,
Tomizawa Kenji,
Hanaoka Yutaka,
Toda Shigeo,
Suyama Koichi,
Tanabe Yuko,
Moriyama Jin,
Fujii Takeshi,
Matoba Shuichiro,
Kuroyanagi Hiroya,
Takano Toshimi
Publication year - 2017
Publication title -
cancer science
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.035
H-Index - 141
eISSN - 1349-7006
pISSN - 1347-9032
DOI - 10.1111/cas.13229
Subject(s) - colorectal cancer , hazard ratio , medicine , stage (stratigraphy) , immunohistochemistry , oncology , cancer , confidence interval , pd l1 , gastroenterology , immunotherapy , biology , paleontology
The programmed death‐1/programmed death‐ligand 1 ( PD ‐L1) pathway is a negative feedback pathway that suppresses the activity of T cells. Previous studies reported that high PD ‐L1 expression on tumor cells ( TC ) was associated with poor survival in patients with colorectal cancer; however, the prognostic evaluation of these studies was limited because they included patients at various disease stages. The purpose of the present study was to evaluate the relationship between PD ‐L1 status in the immune microenvironment and the clinicopathological features of stage III colorectal cancer. Two hundred and thirty‐five patients were included in the analysis. PD ‐L1 expression on TC and tumor‐infiltrating mononuclear cells ( TIMC ) was evaluated by immunohistochemistry. The median follow‐up of thisi study was 52.9 months. A total of 8.1% of stage III colorectal cancer showed high PD ‐L1 expression on TC and 15.3% showed high PD ‐L1 expression on TIMC . Patients with high PD ‐L1 expression on TC had significantly shorter disease‐free survival ( DFS ) than patients with low expression (hazard ratio [ HR ] 2.36; 95% confidence interval [ CI ], 1.21–4.62; P = 0.012). In addition, patients with high PD ‐L1 expression on TIMC were associated with longer DFS than patients with low expression ( HR 0.40; 95% CI , 0.16–0.98; P = 0.046). These findings suggest that PD ‐L1 expression status may be a new predictor of recurrence for stage III colorectal cancer patients and highlight the necessity of evaluating PD ‐L1 expression on TC and TIMC separately in the tumor microenvironment.