High expression levels of TLR9 and PD-L1 indicates a poor prognosis in patients with angioimmunoblastic T-cell lymphoma: a retrospective study of 88 cases in a single center

• Published in: Journal of Cancer Vol. 11; no. 1; pp. 57 - 68
• Main Authors: Qian, Jingrong, Meng, Hongxue, Lv, Bowen, Wang, Jie, Lu, Yingying, Su, Liju, Zhao, Shu, Li, Wenhui
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Australia Ivyspring International Publisher Pty Ltd 2020; Ivyspring International Publisher
• Subjects: Angiogenesis; Biopsy; Cancer therapies; Cell adhesion & migration; Cell cycle; Cytokines; Gene expression; Ligands; Lymphoma; Medical prognosis; Medical research; Online data bases; Proteins; Research Paper; United Kingdom > UK; PD-L1; TLR9; angioimmunoblastic T-cell lymphoma; prognosis
• ISSN: 1837-9664; 1837-9664
• DOI: 10.7150/jca.37033

The role of TLR9 expressed by tumor cells in evading immune surveillance was confirmed. PD-L1 expression in tumor cells plays a key role in tumor immune escape, which is associated with poor prognosis. However, the clinical relevance of TLR9 and PD-L1 expression in angioimmunoblastic T-cell lymphoma (AITL) has not been evaluated. In this study, we identified differentially expressed genes in AITL samples by bioinformatic analysis, and we first examined TLR9 and PD-L1 expression by immunohistochemical staining in patients with AITL and compared these data with clinical features and survival time. It was found that the expression of PD-L1 and multiple TLRs was higher in AITL than normal T-cell samples, and TLR9 and PD-L1 expression displayed complex interactions by bioinformatic analysis. The rates of TLR9 and PD-L1 high expression were 69% and 50%, respectively. High expression of either TLR9 or PD-L1 indicated a poor survival rate for patients with AITL. Multivariate analysis further confirmed that high expression levels of TLR9 and PD-L1 were unfavorable prognostic factors for AITL. We further found inferior overall survival in AITL with clinical features of ECOG status ≥ 2, advanced-stage, elevated serum LDH levels, elevated serum β -MG levels, and high IPI score. : TLR9 and PD-L1 expression may be a novel predictor of prognosis for patients with AITL and may serve as potential therapeutic strategy.