Clinical Significance of Tumor-Infiltrating T Cells and Programed Death Ligand-1 in Patients with Pancreatic Cancer

Abstract

The associations of the immunological status of the pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDA) microenvironment with prognosis were assessed. A high tumor-infiltrating lymphocyte (TIL) density was associated with a better prognosis. Importantly, even with a high density of TILs, the PDA cells with programed cell death-ligand 1 (PD-L1) expression showed a worse prognosis than the patients with negative PD-L1 expression. A significant association between a better prognosis and a tumor microenvironment with a high TIL density/negative PD-L1 expression was observed. Assessments of a combined immunological status in the tumor microenvironment may predict the prognosis of PDA patients following surgical resection.

Keywords:

• TIL
• PD-L1
• pancreatic cancer
• prognosis

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Author contributions

Conceptualization: Shigeo Koido; Data curation: Sayumi Yoshida, Zensho Ito, Machi Suka, Shin Kan, Takafumi Akasu, Masayuki Saruta, Masato Okamoto, Hiroaki Kitamura, Shuichi Fujioka, Takeyuki Misawa, Tadashi Akiba, Hiroyuki Yanagisawa, Haruo Sugiyama, Shigeo Koido; Formal analysis: Sayumi Yoshida, Zensho Ito, Machi Suka; Funding acquisition: Shigeo Koido; Investigation: Sayumi Yoshida, Zensho Ito, Machi Suka, Shin Kan; Methodology: Tsuuse Bito, Shigeo Koido; Project administration: Shigeo Koido; Writing: Shigeo Koido.

Additional information

Funding

The present study was supported, in part, by Grants in Aid for Scientific Research (C) from the Ministry of Education, Cultures, Sports, Science and Technology of Japan (grant no. 19K08383).