Association of Programmed Death-Ligand 1 Expression with Aggressive Histological Types of Thyroid Carcinoma

Figures & data

Table 1 Patient Characteristics

Characteristics
Histological Groups of TC	N/Total (%)
Aggressive types	26/52 (50.0)
ATC	9/52 (17.3)
MTC	2/52 (3.8)
PTC with certain components of ATC	4/52 (7.7)
PTC with certain components of PDTC	3/52 (5.8)
Tall cell variant of PTC	5/52 (9.6)
Columnar variant of PTC	1/52 (1.9)
Solid variant of PTC	1/52 (1.9)
Hobnail variant of PTC	1/52 (1.9)
Less aggressive types	26/52 (50.0)
FTC, minimal invasion	1/52 (1.9)
HCC, minimal invasion	4/52 (7.7)
FVPTC	14/52 (26.9)
Classic PTC	7/52 (13.5)
Sex
Male	12/52 (23.1)
Female	40/52 (76.9)
Age, years
≥45	32/52 (61.5)
<45	20/52 (38.5)
Tumour size, cm
>4	21/52 (40.4)
≤4	31/52 (59.6)
Extrathyroidal extension
Present	24/52 (46.2)
Absent	28/52 (53.8)
Lymph node metastases
Present	19/52 (36.5)
Absent	33/52 (63.5)
Distant metastases
Present	13/52 (25.0)
Absent	39/52 (75.0)

Abbreviations: TC, thyroid carcinoma; ATC, anaplastic TC; MTC, medullary TC; PTC, papillary TC; PDTC, poorly differentiated TC; FTC, follicular TC; HCC, Hurthle cell carcinoma; FVPTC, follicular variant of PTC.

Table 2 TPS Values in Groups of Aggressive and Less Aggressive Histological Types of Thyroid Carcinoma with Demographic and Pathologic Characteristics

N	Sex	Age (Years)		Tumour Size (cm)	Morphological Diagnosis	Extrathyroidal Extension	Lymph Node Metastases	Distant Metastases	PDL1%TPS
Aggressive histological group
1	Female	67		7.5	PTC with certain components of PDTC	Present	Present	Present	0.00
2	Female	31		15	Anaplastic thyroid carcinoma	Present	Absent	Absent	4.12
3	Female	59		1	Anaplastic thyroid carcinoma	Present	Absent	Present	0.82
4	Female	61		2	PTC with certain components of ATC	Present	Present	Present	9.81
5	Female	64		10	Anaplastic thyroid carcinoma	Present	Absent	Present	1.15
6	Male	66		11	Anaplastic thyroid carcinoma	Present	Absent	Absent	21.72
7	Male	40		13.5	PTC with certain components of PDTC	Present	Present	Present	0.16
8	Female	62		4.5	Medullary thyroid carcinoma	Absent	Absent	Present	0.01
9	Female	39		2	Hobnail variant of PTC	Absent	Absent	Absent	3.07
10	Male	48		13.5	Anaplastic thyroid carcinoma	Present	Absent	Present	91.36
11	Female	63		20	Anaplastic thyroid carcinoma	Present	Absent	Present	84.87
12	Male	45		15.2	Anaplastic thyroid carcinoma	Present	Present	Present	0.38
13	Female	62		7	Anaplastic thyroid carcinoma	Present	Present	Absent	91.17
14	Male	45		20	Anaplastic thyroid carcinoma	Present	Present	Absent	0.17
15	Female	64		4	PTC with certain components of ATC	Present	Absent	Absent	0.33
16	Female	54		6	PTC with certain components of ATC	Present	Absent	Absent	36.60
17	Female	56		2	PTC with certain components of ATC	Present	Present	Present	95.00
18	Female	26		2.3	PTC with certain components of PDTC	Absent	Absent	Absent	0.00
19	Female	57		4.2	Medullary thyroid carcinoma	Absent	Absent	Absent	0.29
20	Female	70		6	Tall cell variant of PTC	Present	Present	Absent	0.18
21	Male	61		0.5	Tall cell variant of PTC	Present	Present	Present	21.14
22	Female	53		8	Columnar variant of PTC	Present	Present	Absent	0.01
23	Female	49		3	Solid variant of PTC	Absent	Present	Absent	0.32
24	Female	35		3	Tall cell variant of PTC	Absent	Absent	Absent	5.57
25	Male	43		15	Tall cell variant of PTC	Present	Present	Absent	0.00
26	Female	42		4	Tall cell variant of PTC	Absent	Absent	Absent	0.05
Less aggressive histological group
27	Female	49		5	Hurthle cell carcinoma with minimal invasion	Absent	Absent	Absent	0.04
28	Female	42		3	Follicular variant of PTC	Absent	Absent	Absent	0.03
29	Female	47		1.5	Follicular variant of PTC	Absent	Absent	Absent	0.00
30	Female	44		8	Follicular variant of PTC	Absent	Absent	Absent	0.00
31	Female	55		0.5	Hurthle cell carcinoma with minimal invasion	Absent	Absent	Absent	0.22
32	Female	44		3	Follicular variant of PTC	Absent	Absent	Absent	0.00
33	Male	67		2	Follicular variant of PTC	Absent	Absent	Absent	0.00
34	Female	68		2	Hurthle cell carcinoma with minimal invasion	Absent	Absent	Absent	19.53
35	Female	69		1	Follicular variant of PTC	Absent	Absent	Present	0.00
36	Female	55		1.5	Follicular variant of PTC	Absent	Absent	Absent	0.18
37	Female	27		1.5	Hurthle cell carcinoma with minimal invasion	Absent	Absent	Absent	0.20
38	Female	69		3	Follicular thyroid carcinoma, minimal invasion	Absent	Absent	Absent	0.01
39	Female	51		4	Classic PTC	Present	Present	Absent	0.40
40	Female	62		3	Classic PTC	Absent	Absent	Absent	0.19
41	Female	48		1.5	Follicular variant of PTC	Absent	Absent	Absent	0.01
42	Female	39		4.2	Follicular variant of PTC	Absent	Absent	Absent	14.10
43	Female	37		3	Follicular variant of PTC	Absent	Present	Absent	3.31
44	Male	18		5.4	Follicular variant of PTC	Present	Present	Present	0.03
45	Female	53		1.5	Classic PTC	Absent	Absent	Absent	0.09
46	Male	47		3.5	Follicular variant of PTC	Absent	Absent	Absent	0.56
47	Female	44		2.5	Follicular variant of PTC	Absent	Absent	Absent	0.06
48	Male	35		1.2	Classic PTC	Present	Present	Absent	0.00
49	Male	30		2	Classic PTC	Absent	Absent	Absent	8.94
50	Female	31		3	Classic PTC	Present	Present	Absent	0.15
51	Female	34		10.5	Follicular variant of PTC	Absent	Present	Absent	0.00
52	Female	23		4	Classic PTC	Present	Present	Absent	0.37

Figure 1 Immunohistochemical PD-L1 expression in TC samples using a mouse monoclonal anti-PD-L1 antibody (clone 22C3) (A) PD-L1 expression in this TC showed positive linear membrane staining, from weak to strong intensity (TPS ≥90%). (B) PD-L1 expression in this TC showed negative in many tumour cells and positive linear membrane staining only in some tumour cells (TPS 5.57%).

Abbreviations: TC, thyroid carcinoma; TPS, tumour proportion score; PD-L1, programmed death-ligand 1.

Table 3 Comparison of TPS Values in Aggressive and Less Aggressive Histological Types of TC

Variable	N	TPS, Median (Range)	P-value
Histological groups of TC
Aggressive types	26	0.60 (0.00–95.00)	0.01^a
Less aggressive types	26	0.07 (0.00–19.53)

Note: ^aP<0.05 by Mann–Whitney U-test.

Abbreviations: TPS, tumour proportion score; TC, thyroid carcinoma.

Table 4 Comparison of TPS Values Based on Demographic and Pathological Characteristics

Characteristics	N	TPS, Median (Range)	P-value
Sex
Male	12	0.28 (0.00–91.36)	0.78
Female	40	0.20 (0.00–95.00)
Age, years
≥45	32	0.31 (0.00–95.00)	0.12
<45	20	0.11 (0.00–14.10)
Tumour size, cm
>4	21	0.18 (0.00–91.36)	0.70
≤4	31	0.20 (0.00–95.00)
Extrathyroidal extension
Present	24	0.39 (0.00–95.00)	0.02^a
Absent	28	0.07 (0.00–19.53)
Lymph node metastases
Present	19	0.18 (0.00–95.00)	0.94
Absent	33	0.20 (0.00–91.36)
Distant metastases
Present	13	0.82 (0.00–95.00)	0.18
Absent	39	0.18 (0.00–91.17)

Note: ^aP<0.05 by Mann–Whitney U-test.

Abbreviation: TPS, tumour proportion score.