https://doi.org/10.4081/ejh.2022.3393
Immunohistochemical expression and clinicopathological assessment of PD-1, PD-L1, NY-ESO-1, and MAGE-A4 expression in highly aggressive soft tissue sarcomas
Submitted: 9 February 2022
Accepted: 16 April 2022
Published: 22 April 2022
Accepted: 16 April 2022
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All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.
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Immunotherapy has altered the treatment paradigm for soft tissue sarcomas (STSs). Considering the limited information regarding the clinical significance of immunohistochemical markers in STS, the purpose of this study was to determine the clinical significance of programmed cell death-1 (PD-1), PD ligand-1 (PD-L1), New York esophageal squamous cell carcinoma-1 (NY-ESO-1), and melanoma-associated antigen-A4 (MAGE-A4) expression in STSs. Twenty-two patients (median age, 72.5 years) with STSs treated at our hospital were included in this study. The specimens obtained at the time of biopsy were used to perform immunostaining for PD-1, PD-L1, NY-ESO, and MAGE-A4. The rates of PD-1-, PD-L1-, NY-ESO-, and MAGE-A4-positive cells and cases were calculated. The correlations among the positive cell rates of the immunohistochemical markers as well as their correlations with the histological grade, tumor size, or maximum standardized uptake (SUVmax) value were also determined. The average rates of PD-1-, PD-L1-, NY-ESO-, and MAGE-A4-positive cells were 4.39%, 28.0%, 18.2%, and 39.4%, respectively. Although the PD-1-positive cell rate showed no correlation with the rates of NY-ESO-1- and MAGE-A4-positive cells, the PD-L1-positive cell rates showed strong positive correlations with the rates of NY-ESO-1- and MAGE-A4-positive cells. PD-1-, PD-L1-, NY-ESO-1-, and MAGE-A4-positive cell rates showed weak to moderate correlations with histological grade or tumor size, while the PD-1-, PD-L1-, and MAGE-A4-positive cell rates showed strong to very strong positive correlations with the SUVmax value. Thus, PD-1, PD-L1, NY-ESO, and MAGE-A4 expressions are correlated and may be involved in the aggressive elements of STSs.
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Ethics Approval
This study complied with the Declaration of Helsinki and was approved by the Ethics Committee of Kindai University Hospital (approval number: R03-021, Osaka, Japan; approval date: April 27, 2021)How to Cite
Hashimoto, K., Nishimura, S., Ito, T., Kakinoki, R., & Akagi, M. (2022). Immunohistochemical expression and clinicopathological assessment of PD-1, PD-L1, NY-ESO-1, and MAGE-A4 expression in highly aggressive soft tissue sarcomas. European Journal of Histochemistry, 66(2). https://doi.org/10.4081/ejh.2022.3393
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