Programmed Death–Ligand 1 and Vimentin: A Tandem Marker as Prognostic Factor in NSCLC

• Published in: Cancers Vol. 11; no. 10; p. 1411
• Main Authors: Ancel, Julien, Birembaut, Philippe, Dewolf, Maxime, Durlach, Anne, Nawrocki-Raby, Béatrice, Dalstein, Véronique, Delepine, Gonzague, Blacher, Silvia, Deslée, Gaëtan, Gilles, Christine, Polette, Myriam
• Format: Journal Article Web Resource
• Language: English
• Published: Basel MDPI AG 22.09.2019; MDPI
• Subjects: Apoptosis; Cancer therapies; Clinical outcomes; Epithelial; Gene expression; Genomes; Human health sciences; Immune checkpoints; Immunotherapy; Life Sciences; Ligand 1; Ligands; Lung cancer; Lymph nodes; Lymphatic system; Medical prognosis; Mesenchymal transition; Mesenchyme; Metastases; Metastasis; Non-small cell lung carcinoma; Non-Small-Cell Lung Cancer; Oncologie; Oncology; Patients; PD-L1 protein; Programmed Death; Regression analysis; Sciences de la santé humaine; Small cell lung carcinoma; Squamous cell carcinoma; Tumors; Vimentin; epithelial-mesenchymal transition; vimentin; Programmed Death-Ligand 1; Non-Small-Cell Lung Cancer; immune checkpoints
• ISSN: 2072-6694; 2072-6694
• DOI: 10.3390/cancers11101411

In non-metastatic non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC), outcomes remain poor. Adjuvant chemotherapies provide a limited improvement in disease-free survival. Recent exploratory studies on early-stage NSCLC show that immunotherapy given according to Programmed Death–Ligand 1 expression generates variable results, emphasizing a need to improve tumor characterization. We aimed to conjointly assess NSCLC, the expression of PD–L1, and epithelial–mesenchymal transition, frequently involved in tumor aggressiveness. 188 resected NSCLCs were analyzed. Among 188 patients with curatively resected NSCLC, 127 adenocarcinomas and 61 squamous cell carcinomas were stained for PD–L1 and vimentin expression. Overall survival has been compared regarding PD–L1 and vimentin statuses both separately and conjointly in Tumor Cancer Genome Atlas databases. PD–L1 and vimentin higher expressions were strongly associated (OR = 4.682, p < 0.0001). This co-expression occurred preferentially in tumors with lymph node invasion (p = 0.033). PD–L1 was significantly associated with high EMT features. NSCLC harboring both PD–L1high/vimentinhigh expressions were significantly associated with poor overall survival (p = 0.019). A higher co-expression of vimentin and PD–L1 was able to identify patients with worse outcomes. Similar to an important prognostic marker in NSCLC, this tandem marker needs to be further presented to anti-PD–L1 immunotherapies to improve outcome.