title: Prognostic value of programmed death-ligand 1 expression in patients with stage III colorectal cancer.
abstract: 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.
authors.affiliation: Department of Medical Oncology, Toranomon Hospital, Tokyo, Japan.
authors.forename: Shigehiro
authors.identifier: http://orcid.org/0000-0003-1323-4896
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Koganemaru
authors.affiliation: Department of Pathology, Toranomon Hospital, Tokyo, Japan.
authors.forename: Naoko
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Inoshita
authors.affiliation: Department of Medical Oncology, Toranomon Hospital, Tokyo, Japan.
authors.forename: Yuji
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Miura
authors.affiliation: Department of Pathology, Toranomon Hospital, Tokyo, Japan.
authors.forename: Yu
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Miyama
authors.affiliation: Department of Gastroenterological Surgery, Toranomon Hospital, Tokyo, Japan.
authors.forename: Yudai
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Fukui
authors.affiliation: Department of Medical Oncology, Toranomon Hospital, Tokyo, Japan.
authors.forename: Yukinori
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Ozaki
authors.affiliation: Department of Gastroenterological Surgery, Toranomon Hospital, Tokyo, Japan.
authors.forename: Kenji
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Tomizawa
authors.affiliation: Department of Gastroenterological Surgery, Toranomon Hospital, Tokyo, Japan.
authors.forename: Yutaka
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Hanaoka
authors.affiliation: Department of Gastroenterological Surgery, Toranomon Hospital, Tokyo, Japan.
authors.forename: Shigeo
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Toda
authors.affiliation: Department of Medical Oncology, Toranomon Hospital, Tokyo, Japan.
authors.forename: Koichi
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Suyama
authors.affiliation: Department of Medical Oncology, Toranomon Hospital, Tokyo, Japan.
authors.forename: Yuko
authors.identifier: http://orcid.org/0000-0001-9279-5952
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Tanabe
authors.affiliation: Department of Gastroenterological Surgery, Toranomon Hospital, Tokyo, Japan.
authors.forename: Jin
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Moriyama
authors.affiliation: Department of Pathology, Toranomon Hospital, Tokyo, Japan.
authors.forename: Takeshi
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Fujii
authors.affiliation: Department of Gastroenterological Surgery, Toranomon Hospital, Tokyo, Japan.
authors.forename: Shuichiro
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Matoba
authors.affiliation: Department of Gastroenterological Surgery, Toranomon Hospital, Tokyo, Japan.
authors.forename: Hiroya
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Kuroyanagi
authors.affiliation: Department of Medical Oncology, Toranomon Hospital, Tokyo, Japan.
authors.forename: Toshimi
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Takano
mesh_terms: D060890:B7-H1 Antigen / Q000378:metabolism*; D015179:Colorectal Neoplasms / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000473:pathology*; D018572:Disease-Free Survival; D006801:Humans; D007150:Immunohistochemistry / Q000379:methods; D016246:Lymphocytes, Tumor-Infiltrating / Q000378:metabolism / Q000473:pathology; D011379:Prognosis; D059016:Tumor Microenvironment / Q000502:physiology
chemical_list: D060890:B7-H1 Antigen; C423236:CD274 protein, human
keywords: CD8-positive T-lymphocytes; colonic neoplasms; immune microenvironment; immunohistochemistry; tumor infiltrating mononuclear cells