Retrospective Analyses of PD-L1, LAG-3, TIM-3, OX40L Expressions and MSI Status in Gastroenteropancreatic Neuroendocrine Neoplasms

Abstract

We investigated expressions of PD-L1, LAG-3, TIM-3, and OX40L as immune checkpoint proteins, and MSI (repetitive short-DNA-sequences due to defective DNA-repair system) status were analyzed with immunohistochemistry from tissue blocks. Of 83 patients, PD-L1 expression was observed in 18.1% (n = 15) of the patients. None of the patients exhibited LAG-3 expression. TIM-3 expression was 4.9% (n = 4), OX40L was 22.9% (n = 19), and 8.4% (n = 7) of the patients had MSI tumor. A low-to-intermediate positive correlation was observed between PD-L1 and TIM-3 expressions (rho: 0.333, p < 0.01). Although PD-L1 expression was higher in grade 3 NET/NEC, MSI status was prominent in grade 1/2 NET.

Keywords:

• PD-L1
• LAG-3
• TIM-3
• OX40L
• MSI

Ethics approval

Ethical approval was waived by the local Ethics Committee of Gazi University School of Medicine (134/17.02.2021)

Author’s contributions

All authors contributed to the study conception and design. Material preparation, data collection and analysis were performed by [FG], [SAE], [BKİ], [OS], [GU], [OA], [DU], [NT], [NA], [NÖ], [AÖ] and [OY]. The pathological review was conducted by [NA]. The first draft of the manuscript was written by [FG], [OY] and all authors commented on previous versions of the manuscript. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.

Disclosure statement

The authors report there are no competing interests to declare.

Data availability statement

The datasets generated during and/or analyzed during the current study are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.

Correction Statement

This article has been republished with minor changes. These changes do not impact the academic content of the article.

Additional information

Funding

The study was funded by Gazi University, Scientific Research Projects Unit (Grant No: 01/2019-05)