Prognostic significance of programmed cell death 1 expression on CD8+T cells in various cancers: a systematic review and meta-analysis

• Published in: Frontiers in oncology Vol. 14; p. 1531219
• Main Authors: Wan, Zhiyong, Cui, Meng, Yang, Jia, Liao, Dan, Chen, Junliang, Li, Fanmin, Xiang, Yin, Cui, Zhiwei, Yang, Yang
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Switzerland Frontiers Media S.A 14.01.2025
• Subjects: cancer; disease-free survival; Oncology; overall survival; PD-1+CD8+ T cells; progression-free survival; overall survival; cancer; PD-1+CD8+ T cells; disease-free survival; progression-free survival
• ISSN: 2234-943X; 2234-943X
• DOI: 10.3389/fonc.2024.1531219

Increased PD-1 expression on CD8+ T cells is considered as a hallmark for T-cell exhaustion, and is thought to be related to the prognosis of cancer patients. However, discrepant results have made it difficult to apply PD-1+CD8+T cells and tumor prognosis to clinical practice. Therefore, we conducted a meta-analysis to evaluate its prognostic value in human cancers. PRISMA reporting guidelines were strictly followed for conducting the current meta-analysis. The PubMed, Web of Science, Embase databases were searched from inception to November 2024. The pooled Hazard Ratio (HR) along with 95% confidence intervals (CIs) of each article were combined for the associations of PD-1+CD8+ T cells with overall survival (OS), progression- free survival (PFS) and disease-free survival(DFS). Subgroup analyses were performed for area, specimen type, cancer type, treatment, detected method and cancer stage. A total of 20 studies (23 cohorts, 3086 cancer patients) were included in our study. The expression PD-1+CD8+ T cells in cancer patients tended to predict poor overall survival (OS) (HR: 1.379, 95%CI: 1.084-1.753, = 0.009), and unfavorable disease-free survival(DFS) (HR: 1.468, 95%CI: 0.931-2.316, =0.099), though it did not reach statistical significance. Begg's and Egger's test demonstrated that no obvious publication bias was exist. High PD-1 expression on CD8+ T cells is associated with worse survival outcomes, which can be potentially used as a prognostic marker of malignant tumor.