PD-L1 expression in tonsillar cancer is associated with human papillomavirus positivity and improved survival : implications for anti-PD1 clinical trials

Angela M. Hong, Ricardo E. Vilain, Sarah Romanes, Jean Yang, Elizabeth Smith, Deanna Jones, Richard A. Scolyer, C. Soon. Lee, Mei Zhang, Barbara Rose

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

40 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

In this study, we examined PD-L1 expression by immunohistochemistry in 99 patients with tonsillar cancer and known human papillomavirus (HPV) status to assess its clinical significance. We showed that the pattern of PD-L1 expression is strongly related to HPV status. The PD-L1 positivity rate was 83.3% in HPV-positive cases and 56.9% in HPV-negative cases (p < 0.05). Patients with HPV-positive/PD-L1-positive cancer had significantly better event free survival and overall survival compared with patients with HPV-negative/PD-L1-negative cancer. Relative to those patients with HPV-negative/PD-L1-negative disease who had the highest risk of death, patients with HPV-positive/PD-L1-positive cancers had a 2.85 fold lower risk of developing an event (HR 0.35, 95% CI: 0.16–0.79) and a 4.5 fold lower risk of death (HR =0.22, 95% CI: 0.09–0.53). Our findings will help to guide future clinical trial design in immunotherapy based on PD-L1 expression in tonsillar cancer.
Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)77010-77020
Number of pages11
JournalOncotarget
Volume7
Issue number47
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 2016

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Keywords

  • cancer
  • cell death
  • papillomavirus, human
  • tonsils

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