title: PD-L2: A prognostic marker in chromophobe renal cell carcinoma?
abstract: In the context of cancer immunotherapy, PD-1 as well as PD-L1 has been widely studied in renal cell carcinoma (RCC). PD-1 and PD-L1 play a significant role as prognostic markers in clear cell renal cell carcinoma. In contrast, little is known about PD-L2 expression patterns in RCC, especially in rarer subtypes. The aim of this study was to evaluate the prevalence, distribution and prognostic impact of PD-L2 expression in chromophobe (ch)RCC. Eighty-one patients who underwent renal surgery due to chRCC were retrospectively evaluated. Tumor specimens were analyzed for PD-L2 expression by immunohistochemistry. Expression data were associated with clinicopathological parameters and overall survival (OS). Twenty-three (28.4%) patients showed a PD-L2 > median (PD-L2 high) staining intensity. No significant association between clinicopathological parameters and PD-L2 expression was identified. A significant difference between 5- and 10-year OS in dependence of PD-L2 expression was found (PD-L2 low 96.4 and 87.7% vs. PD-L2 high 87.1 and 56%; log rank, p = 0.029). However, in multivariate analysis PD-L2 expression failed to be proofed as an independent prognostic factor. In conclusion, to our knowledge this is the first study evaluating the prognostic impact of PD-L2 in a considerably large cohort of chRCC. Our results showed a significant diminished OS in dependence of PD-L2 expression. This implicates that PD-L2 might play a role as prognostic marker in chRCC demanding further evaluation.
authors.affiliation: Institute of Pathology, Technical University Munich (TUM), Trogerstraße 18, 81675, Munich, Germany. f.erlmeier@tum.de.|Member of the German Renal Cell Tumor Consortium, Jena, Germany. f.erlmeier@tum.de.
authors.forename: Franziska
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Erlmeier
authors.affiliation: Institute of Pathology, Technical University Munich (TUM), Trogerstraße 18, 81675, Munich, Germany.|Member of the German Cancer Consortium (DKTK), Heidelberg, Germany.
authors.forename: Wilko
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Weichert
authors.affiliation: Department of Urology, Technical University of Munich, Klinikum rechts der Isar, Munich, Germany.
authors.forename: Michael
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Autenrieth
authors.affiliation: The Munich Cancer Registry of the Tumorzentrum Munich, Institute of Medical Information Processing, Biometry and Epidemiology, Ludwig-Maximilians-University Munich, Munich, Germany.
authors.forename: Max
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Wiedemann
authors.affiliation: Member of the German Renal Cell Tumor Consortium, Jena, Germany.|Clinic for Urology, University Hospital Muenster, Münster, Germany.
authors.forename: Andres Jan
authors.initials: AJ
authors.lastname: Schrader
authors.affiliation: Member of the German Renal Cell Tumor Consortium, Jena, Germany.|Institute of Pathology, University Hospital of Erlangen, Erlangen, Germany.
authors.forename: Arndt
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Hartmann
authors.affiliation: Department of Hematology, Hemostasis, Oncology and Stem Cell Transplantation, Hannover Medical School, Hannover, Germany.
authors.forename: Philipp
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Ivanyi
authors.affiliation: Member of the German Renal Cell Tumor Consortium, Jena, Germany.|Clinic for Urology, University Hospital Muenster, Münster, Germany.
authors.forename: Sandra
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Steffens
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D014408:Biomarkers, Tumor / Q000096:biosynthesis*; D002292:Carcinoma, Renal Cell / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000473:pathology; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007150:Immunohistochemistry; D053208:Kaplan-Meier Estimate; D007680:Kidney Neoplasms / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000473:pathology; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009367:Neoplasm Staging; D011379:Prognosis; D061027:Programmed Cell Death 1 Ligand 2 Protein / Q000096:biosynthesis*; D046888:Tissue Array Analysis
chemical_list: D014408:Biomarkers, Tumor; C556977:PDCD1LG2 protein, human; D061027:Programmed Cell Death 1 Ligand 2 Protein
keywords: Chromophobe histology; PD-L2; Renal cell carcinoma; Survival