Clinical impact of PD-L1 expression in triple-negative breast cancer patients with residual tumor burden after neoadjuvant chemotherapy


Oner G., Onder S., Karatay H., Ak N., Tukenmez M., Muslumanoglu M., ...Daha Fazla

WORLD JOURNAL OF SURGICAL ONCOLOGY, cilt.19, sa.1, 2021 (SCI-Expanded) identifier identifier identifier

  • Yayın Türü: Makale / Tam Makale
  • Cilt numarası: 19 Sayı: 1
  • Basım Tarihi: 2021
  • Doi Numarası: 10.1186/s12957-021-02361-9
  • Dergi Adı: WORLD JOURNAL OF SURGICAL ONCOLOGY
  • Derginin Tarandığı İndeksler: Science Citation Index Expanded (SCI-EXPANDED), Scopus, Academic Search Premier, EMBASE, MEDLINE, Directory of Open Access Journals
  • Anahtar Kelimeler: Triple-negative breast cancer, PD-L1 expression, Prognosis, Neoadjuvant chemotherapy response, INFILTRATING LYMPHOCYTES, PDL1 EXPRESSION, OPEN-LABEL, HIGH-RISK, LIGAND
  • İstanbul Üniversitesi Adresli: Evet

Özet

Background Studies on PD-L1 expression in breast cancer have gained importance in recent years, especially in triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC). Our aim was to analyze the differential expression of PD-L1 to explore its correlation with response to neoadjuvant chemotherapy (NACT) and patient survival. Methods PD-L1 expression was evaluated immunohistochemically (Ventana SP263 clone kit) by staining tumor specimen. PD-L1 positivity was defined as membranous staining > 1%, > 5%, > 10%, and > 20% on either tumor cell (TC) and /or immune cell (IC). Results Fifty patients with locally advanced TNBC, who had a partial response to NACT, were included in the study. PD-L1 staining was observed in TCs in 25 patients (50%) and in ICs in 23 patients (46%) when PD-L1 > 1% was considered positive. Patients with PD-L1 positivity on ICs were more likely to respond to chemotherapy as measured by "MD Anderson Cancer Center Residual Cancer Burden Index" (14/22, 63.6% vs. 10/27, 37%, p = 0.064). The 5-year disease-free survival (DFS) and disease-specific survival (DSS) rates were 46.3% and 51.4%, respectively. A high (> 20%) tumoral PD-L1 positivity was associated with a better DFS and DSS. Conclusions Studies in the literature mostly focused on PD-L1 expression in inflammatory cells. However, our results suggest that patients with a high PD-L1 expression on TCs were more likely to have a better outcome. Since patients with residual tumor burden who express PD-L1 on TILs were more likely to respond to NACT, an immune checkpoint inhibitor therapy in addition to NACT would be an important option for TNBC with locally advanced disease.