Programmed Cell Death Ligand 1 Expression in Circulating Tumor Cells as a Predictor of Treatment Response in Patients with Urothelial Carcinoma.
Biology (Basel)
; 10(7)2021 Jul 16.
Article
in En
| MEDLINE
| ID: mdl-34356529
ABSTRACT
Programmed cell death ligand 1 (PD-L1) inhibitors are commonly used in treating advanced-stage urothelial carcinoma (UC). Therefore, this study evaluated the relationship between PD-L1 expression in circulating tumor cells (CTCs) and treatment response to PD-L1 inhibitors using blood samples collected from patients with UC (n = 23). Subsequently, PD-L1 expression and its clinical correlation were analyzed. All patients had CTCs before PD-L1 inhibitory treatment, of which 15 had PD-L1-positive CTCs. However, PD-L1-positive expression in CTCs was not correlated with PD-L1 expression in tumor biopsy samples. Patients with PD-L1-positive CTCs had better disease control (DC) rates than those without PD-L1-positive CTCs. Moreover, changes in the proportion of PD-L1-positive CTCs were associated with disease outcomes. Furthermore, the PD-L1-positive CTC count in 9 of 11 patients who achieved DC had significantly decreased (p = 0.01). In four patients with progressive disease, this was higher or did not change. PD-L1-positive CTCs at baseline could be used as a biomarker to identify patients suitable for PD-L1 blockade therapy. Dynamic changes in PD-L1-positive CTCs during the course of treatment are predictive factors of immunotherapy response and prognostic factors of disease control. Hence, PD-L1-positive CTCs could be employed as a real-time molecular biomarker for individualized immunotherapy.
Full text:
1
Collection:
01-internacional
Database:
MEDLINE
Type of study:
Prognostic_studies
/
Risk_factors_studies
Language:
En
Journal:
Biology (Basel)
Year:
2021
Document type:
Article
Affiliation country:
Taiwan
Country of publication:
CH
/
SUIZA
/
SUÍÇA
/
SWITZERLAND