Circulating tumor cells in pulmonary vein and peripheral arterial provide a metric for PD-L1 diagnosis and prognosis of patients with non-small cell lung cancer

• Published in: PloS one Vol. 14; no. 7; p. e0220306
• Main Authors: Dong, Jingsi, Zhu, Daxing, Tang, Xiaojun, Lu, Dan, Qiu, Xiaoming, Li, Bingjie, Lin, Dan, Li, Lu, Liu, Jiewei, Zhou, Qinghua
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United States Public Library of Science 26.07.2019; Public Library of Science (PLoS)
• Subjects: Apoptosis; B7-H1 Antigen - genetics; B7-H1 Antigen - metabolism; Biochemistry; Biology and Life Sciences; Biomarkers, Tumor - genetics; Biomarkers, Tumor - metabolism; Breast cancer; Cancer cells; Cancer metastasis; Cancer patients; Cancer therapies; Carcinoma, Non-Small-Cell Lung - diagnosis; Carcinoma, Non-Small-Cell Lung - genetics; Carcinoma, Non-Small-Cell Lung - metabolism; Cell death; Chemotherapy; Diagnosis; Early Detection of Cancer; Female; Gene Expression Regulation, Neoplastic; Genetic aspects; Health aspects; Humans; Immunotherapy; In Situ Hybridization, Fluorescence; Ligands; Lung cancer; Lung diseases; Lung Neoplasms - diagnosis; Lung Neoplasms - genetics; Lung Neoplasms - metabolism; Male; Medical diagnosis; Medical prognosis; Medicine and Health Sciences; Messenger RNA; Metastases; Metastasis; Middle Aged; mRNA; Mutation; Neoplasm Staging; Neoplastic Cells, Circulating - metabolism; Neoplastic Cells, Circulating - pathology; Non-small cell lung cancer; Non-small cell lung carcinoma; Otolaryngology; Patients; PD-L1 protein; Prognosis; Proteins; RNA; Small cell lung cancer; Studies; Surgery; Survival Analysis; Tumor cells; Tumors; Veins; Veins & arteries; China
• ISSN: 1932-6203; 1932-6203
• DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0220306

Lung cancer is the leading cause of death caused by malignant tumors. PD-L1(programmed cell death protein-1) has shown tremendous achievement in treating NSCLC. We sought to find the relationship between CTCs in the pulmonary vein and postoperative PFS, besides we detected PD-L1 in CTCs. We enrolled 112 NSCLC patients. CTC tests were performed at four time points (preoperative, pulmonary vein, intraoperative and postoperative) on every NSCLC patient who received surgery. The RNA of PD-L1 was tested by FISH. The levels of the PD-L1 mRNA and protein in tissue samples were detected. The CTCs in the PV were the highest (P< 0.001), and CTCs in the PPA were the lowest (P< 0.001). The PFS in the group with PV CTCs≥ 16/5 ml was shorter than that in the group with PV CTCs< 16/5 ml (11.1 months vs 21.2 months, respectively; P< 0.001). The PFS in the group with PPA CTCs≥ 3/5 ml was shorter than that in the group with CTCs< 3/5 ml (14.8 months vs 20.7 months, respectively; P< 0.001). The CTCs in stage I were lower than those in stage II-IV (P = 0.025). No linear relationship was found between the CTCs and tumor size (P> 0.05) or LN metastasis (P> 0.05). In total, fifty-two (50.5%) patients had positive PD-L1 expression in CTC. In PD-L1-positive CTC patients, the value of PD-L1 tissue expression was higher than that in PD-L1-negative CTC patients (P = 0.0153). CTCs in the pulmonary vein can be an effective prognosis indicator of NSCLC patients.