Background: Despite the considerable advancement in the field of medicine over recent decades, laryngeal cancer continues to be a challenge. The field of immune oncology has generated promising immunomodulation therapies and opened up new ways of treatment. Methods: Our retrospective study included 102 patients diagnosed with laryngeal squamous cell cancer (LSCC). Immunohistochemistry was used to evaluate the expression of PD-L1 and tumor microenvironment cells (CD4, CD8, CD68 and CD163). Results: PD-L1 expression showed statistically significant positive correlations with all examined tumor microenvironment cells. Patients with high CD68 and CD163 expression intratumorally (p= 0.0005 andp= 0.006, respectively) had statistically significant shorter disease-specific survival. Moreover, a statistically shorter time to recurrence was found in patients with high CD68 intratumoral and CD8 overall counts (p= 0.049 andp= 0.019, respectively). Also, high CD8 overall (>23%) and CD68 intratumoral (>2.7%) expression were statistically significant predictors of recurrence (p= 0.028, OR = 3.11 andp= 0.019, OR = 3.13, respectively). Conclusions: Higher CD68 and CD163 expression represented significantly worse prognosticators for clinical outcomes in patients with LSCC. In order to determine which LSCC patients will benefit from anti-PD-1/PD-L1 inhibitors, it is crucial to elucidate the relationship between PD-L1 expression, immune cell distribution and prognosis in LSCC patients.
背景：尽管近几十年来医学领域取得了显著进步，喉癌的治疗仍面临挑战。免疫肿瘤学领域已开发出前景广阔的免疫调节疗法，为治疗开辟了新途径。方法：本回顾性研究纳入102例经确诊的喉鳞状细胞癌（LSCC）患者。采用免疫组织化学法评估PD-L1及肿瘤微环境细胞（CD4、CD8、CD68和CD163）的表达情况。结果：PD-L1表达与所有检测的肿瘤微环境细胞均呈统计学显著正相关。肿瘤内高表达CD68和CD163的患者（分别为p=0.0005和p=0.006）疾病特异性生存期显著缩短。此外，肿瘤内高CD68表达及总体高CD8计数的患者复发时间显著缩短（分别为p=0.049和p=0.019）。同时，总体高CD8（>23%）和肿瘤内高CD68（>2.7%）表达是复发的显著预测因子（分别为p=0.028，OR=3.11和p=0.019，OR=3.13）。结论：CD68和CD163的高表达是LSCC患者临床预后不良的重要指标。为确定哪些LSCC患者能从抗PD-1/PD-L1抑制剂治疗中获益，阐明PD-L1表达、免疫细胞分布与LSCC患者预后的关系至关重要。
Significance of PD-L1 and Tumor Microenvironment in Laryngeal Squamous Cell Cancer
肿瘤(癌症)患者之家