PD-L1 Expression and Intra-Tumoral CD8⁺ T Lymphocytes in Esophageal Carcinosarcoma

Abstract

We detected PD-L1 and intra-tumoral CD8⁺ T lymphocytes (CD8⁺ TIL) in 19 patients with esophageal carcinosarcoma (ECS). The median follow-up period of these patients was 43 months, and the three- and five-year survival rates were 78.9 and 63.2%, respectively. No statistically significant correlation was observed between PD-L1 and CD8⁺ TIL in sarcomatous components(SC) (r = −0.262, p = 0.279) and epithelial carcinomatous (EC) (r = 0.055, p = 0.824). This study examined the immunological markers in ECS for the first time. PD-L1 is highly expressed in the SC and is associated with a poorer prognosis.

Keywords:

• Esophageal carcinosarcoma
• PD-L1
• intra-tumoral CD8⁺ T lymphocytes
• clinicopathological features
• prognosis

Ethical approval

The study was conducted in accordance with the recommendations of the Review Board of the Cancer Hospital affiliated with Nantong University. This is a retrospective study, so there is no need to obtain written informed consent from the subject. The retrospective agreement was approved by the Nantong University Affiliated Tumor Hospital Review Committee.

Author contributions

P.W., D.D.W., X.J.C., and Y.Z.X. contributed to the follow-up of patients. X.S.Z., H.B.Y., and X.D.C. provided support in pathological work. S.S.C. and J.M.Z. extracted data, created databases, performed statistical analysis, and wrote manuscripts. J.C. and X.Y. provided guidance in writing articles. All authors reviewed the data analysis, the findings, contribute to the revision of the manuscript, read and approve the submitted version.

Disclosure statement

The authors report no conflicts of interest. The authors alone are responsible for the content and writing of the article.

Data availability statement

The datasets generated for this study are available on request to the corresponding author.

Additional information

Funding

This study was funded by the Key Research and Development Program of Social Development of Jiangsu Province (BE2017679) and National Natural Science Foundation of China (Nos. 81802606 and 81703024).