Interspatial Distribution of Tumor and Immune Cells in Correlation with PD-L1 in Molecular Subtypes of Gastric Cancers.

Dislich, Bastian; Mertz, Kirsten D; Gloor, Beat; Langer, Rupert (2022). Interspatial Distribution of Tumor and Immune Cells in Correlation with PD-L1 in Molecular Subtypes of Gastric Cancers. Cancers, 14(7) MDPI AG 10.3390/cancers14071736

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(1) Background: EBV-positive and mismatch repair-deficient (MMRd) gastric cancers (GCs) show higher levels of tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes (TILs) and PD-L1 expression and thus a more profound response to immunotherapy. However, the majority of GCs are EBV-negative (EBV-) and MMR proficient (MMRp). We analyzed PD-L1 expression and TILs in EBV-MMRpGCs in comparison to EBV-positive (EBV+) and MMRdGCs to identify an immunogenic phenotype susceptible to immunotherapy. (2) Methods: A next-generation tissue microarray of 409 primary resected GCs was analyzed by Epstein-Barr encoding region (EBER) in situ hybridization for MSH1, PMS2, MSH2, MSH6, PD-L1, and CD8 immunohistochemistry. PD-L1 positivity was defined as a combined positive score (CPS) of ≥1. CD8+ TILs and their proximity to cancer cells were digitally analyzed on the HALO™ image analysis platform. (3) Results: Eleven cases were EBV+, 49 cases MMRd, and 349 cases EBV-MMRpGCs. The highest rate of PD-L1 positivity was seen in EBV+GCs, followed by MMRdGCs and EBV-MMRpGCs (81.8%, 73.5%, and 27.8%, respectively). EBV+ and MMRdGCs also demonstrated increased numbers and proximity of CD8+ TILs to tumor cells compared to EBV-MMRpGCs (p < 0.001 each). PD-L1 status positively correlated with the total numbers of CD8+ TILs and their proximity to tumor cells in all subtypes, including EBV-MMRpGCs (p < 0.001 each). A total of 28.4% of EBV-MMRpGCs showed high CD8+ TILs independent of PD-L1. (4) Conclusions: PD-L1 and CD8 immunohistochemistry, supplemented by digital image analysis, may identify EBV-MMRpGCs with high immunoreactivity indices, indicating susceptibility to immunotherapy.

Item Type:

Journal Article (Original Article)

Division/Institute:

04 Faculty of Medicine > Service Sector > Institute of Pathology > Clinical Pathology
04 Faculty of Medicine > Service Sector > Institute of Pathology
04 Faculty of Medicine > Department of Gastro-intestinal, Liver and Lung Disorders (DMLL) > Clinic of Visceral Surgery and Medicine > Visceral Surgery

UniBE Contributor:

Dislich, Bastian, Gloor, Beat

Subjects:

500 Science > 570 Life sciences; biology
600 Technology > 610 Medicine & health

ISSN:

2072-6694

Publisher:

MDPI AG

Language:

English

Submitter:

Pubmed Import

Date Deposited:

13 Apr 2022 12:21

Last Modified:

05 Dec 2022 16:18

Publisher DOI:

10.3390/cancers14071736

PubMed ID:

35406506

Uncontrolled Keywords:

EBV MMR MSI PD-L1 TIL gastric cancer immunotherapy

BORIS DOI:

10.48350/169287

URI:

https://boris.unibe.ch/id/eprint/169287

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