title: Impact of PD-L1 Expression in Patients with Surgically Resected Non-Small-Cell Lung Cancer.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Immunotherapy can become a crucial therapeutic option to improve the prognosis of patients with non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC). Here, we evaluated the impact of programmed cell death ligand-1 (PD-L1) expression in surgically resected NSCLCs.
  
  
  METHODS
  We estimated PD-L1 expression in 229 consecutive NSCLC specimens using rabbit polyclonal antibodies to human PD-L1 in a SP263 immunohistochemical assay and evaluated PD-L1 expression for potential associations with clinicopathological parameters and survival time.
  
  
  RESULTS
  PD-L1 expression was significantly higher in tumors from men or current smokers. Squamous cell carcinoma histology was independently associated with high PD-L1 expression according to multivariate analysis (p = 0.015). The 5-year survival rate of patients was 70%, and the difference in the 5-year survival rate according to PD-L1 expression was not statistically significant (high expression group [67%] vs. low expression group [68%]); however, the squamous cell carcinoma group exhibited significantly lower 5-year survival rates as compared to the non-squamous cell carcinoma group (53 and 71%, respectively; p = 0.026).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Here, we revealed high PD-L1 expression and poor prognosis observed in patients with surgically resected squamous NSCLC as compared with non-squamous NSCLC. Our results support the identification of patient subsets that most likely respond to anti-PD-1 therapy as the first step in precision medicine.
authors.affiliation: Department of Respiratory Medicine, Kitasato University School of Medicine, Sagamihara-city, Japan.
authors.forename: Satoshi
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Igawa
authors.forename: Yuichi
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Sato
authors.forename: Shinichiro
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Ryuge
authors.forename: Masaaki
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Ichinoe
authors.forename: Ken
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Katono
authors.forename: Yasuhiro
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Hiyoshi
authors.forename: Sakiko
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Otani
authors.forename: Ryo
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Nagashio
authors.forename: Hiroyasu
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Nakashima
authors.forename: Masato
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Katagiri
authors.forename: Jiichiro
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Sasaki
authors.forename: Yoshiki
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Murakumo
authors.forename: Yukitoshi
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Satoh
authors.forename: Noriyuki
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Masuda
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000911:Antibodies, Monoclonal; D060890:B7-H1 Antigen / Q000096:biosynthesis / Q000378:metabolism*; D014408:Biomarkers, Tumor / Q000378:metabolism; D002289:Carcinoma, Non-Small-Cell Lung / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000473:pathology / Q000601:surgery*; D002294:Carcinoma, Squamous Cell / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000473:pathology / Q000601:surgery*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008175:Lung Neoplasms / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000473:pathology / Q000601:surgery*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011237:Predictive Value of Tests; D011379:Prognosis; D012189:Retrospective Studies
chemical_list: D000911:Antibodies, Monoclonal; D060890:B7-H1 Antigen; D014408:Biomarkers, Tumor; C423236:CD274 protein, human
keywords: Prognostic factor; Programmed cell death ligand-1; Squamous non-small-cell lung cancer