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The concentration of programmed cell death-ligand 1 in the peripheral blood is a useful biomarker for esophageal squamous cell carcinoma

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Abstract

Background

We determined the serum concentrations of Programmed cell death-1 (PD-1) and its ligands (PD-L1 and PD-L2) in patients with esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC).

Methods

Blood samples were collected from 85 patients with histologically proved ESCC. Serum levels of PD-1, PD-L1, and PD-L2 were measured using enzyme linked immunosorbent assays. Correlations between serum PD-1, PD-L1, and PD-L2 concentration and tumor depth, number of lymph node metastases, organ metastasis status, or disease stage were assessed and five-year survival rates according to clinicopathological characteristics were calculated.

Results

The concentration of PD-1 was not differed according to tumor progression. On the other hand, the average concentration of PD-L1 in patients with T3/T4 disease was 15.6 (12.2–18.3) pg/mL (25–75%), and this was significantly higher than that in patients with Tis/T1/T2 disease (p = 0.020). Similarly, PD-L1 levels were significantly higher in patients with positive lymph nodes than in cases with negative lymph node involvement (p = 0.006) and were higher in patients with organ metastasis (p = 0.123) and in more advanced stage (p = 0.006). Similar tendency was observed regarding PD-L2 concentrations. PD-L2 concentration was higher in T3, T4 cases (p = 0.008), in LN positive cases (p = 0.032), and in more advanced stage (p = 0.024).

Conclusion

Our data showed that a concentration of PD-L1 in peripheral blood was high in advanced cancer and high concentration of PD-L1 predicted disease progression and also poor survival in patients with ESCC.

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Acknowledgements

This study was supported by a Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (C) (Grant no. 15K06867) from the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Frontier Surgery, Graduate School of Medicine, Chiba University, Chiba, Japan

    Yasunori Akutsu, Kentaro Murakami, Masayuki Kano, Takeshi Toyozumi, Yasunori Matsumoto, Masahiko Takahashi, Ryota Otsuka, Nobufumi Sekino, Masaya Yokoyama, Tadashi Shiraishi & Hisahiro Matsubara

  2. Miwa Central Clinic, 1-336-6 Miwa, Mito, Ibaraki, 310-0911, Japan

    Yasunori Akutsu

Authors
  1. Yasunori Akutsu
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  2. Kentaro Murakami
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  3. Masayuki Kano
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  4. Takeshi Toyozumi
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  5. Yasunori Matsumoto
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  6. Masahiko Takahashi
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  8. Nobufumi Sekino
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  9. Masaya Yokoyama
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  10. Tadashi Shiraishi
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  11. Hisahiro Matsubara
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Yasunori Akutsu.

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Ethical Statement

The participants in this study provided informed consent, and the study design was approved by the appropriate ethics review boards.

Conflict of interest

The authors declare that there are no conflicts of interest to declare. This manuscript has been checked by an English language editing service.

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Akutsu, Y., Murakami, K., Kano, M. et al. The concentration of programmed cell death-ligand 1 in the peripheral blood is a useful biomarker for esophageal squamous cell carcinoma. Esophagus 15, 103–108 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10388-018-0604-1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10388-018-0604-1

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