Journal of clinical medicine, 2020.9(5), 1265-0, DOI: https://doi.org/10.3390/jcm9051265

Differential Expression and Clinicopathological Significance of HER2, Indoleamine 2,3-Dioxygenase and PD-L1 in Urothelial Carcinoma of the Bladder

Kim D, Kim J;Kim JS;Kim S;Kim KH

Abstract

Purpose: Evasion of the immune system by cancer cells allows for the progression of tumors.
Antitumor immunotherapy has shown remarkable e ects in a diverse range of cancers. The aim of this study was to determine the clinicopathological significance of human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 (HER2), indoleamine 2,3-dioxygenase (IDO), and programmed death ligand-1 (PD-L1) expression in urothelial carcinoma of the bladder (UCB).
Materials and Methods: We retrospectively studied 97 patients with UCB.We performed an immunohistochemical study to measure the expression levels of HER2, IDO, and PD-L1 in UCB tissue from these 97 patients.
Results: In all 97 cases, the PD-L1 expression of tumor-infiltrating immune cells (ICs) was significantly correlated with higher pathologic tumor stage (pT). In pT2–pT4 cases (n = 69), higher levels of HER2 and IDO expression in invasive tumor cells (TCs) were associated with shorter periods of disease-free survival (DFS).
Conclusion: These results imply that the expression of PD-L1 in ICs of the UCB microenvironment is associated with cancer invasion and the expression of HER2 or IDO in the invasive cancer cell and suggestive of the potential for cancer recurrence. We suggest that the expression levels of IDO, HER2, and PD-L1 could be useful as targets in the development of combined cancer immunotherapeutic strategies.

• DOI: https://doi.org/10.3390/jcm9051265
• ISBN or ISSN: 2077-0383

• 본 연구는 질병관리본부 연구개발과제연구비를 지원받아 수행되었습니다.
• This research was supported by a fund by Research of Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.