Relationship between the expressions of PD-1 and LAG-3 in the immune microenvironment of diffuse large B-cell lymphoma and the clinicopathological characteristics and prognosis
10.3760/cma.j.cn115356-20230116-00018
- VernacularTitle:弥漫大B细胞淋巴瘤免疫微环境中PD-1和LAG-3的表达与临床病理特征及预后的关系
- Author:
Jiajia MA
1
;
Junna LI
;
Xuelian PANG
;
Ting YANG
;
Li YU
;
Wenli CUI
Author Information
1. 新疆医科大学第一附属医院昌吉分院病理科，昌吉 831100
- Keywords:
Lymphoma, large B-cell, diffuse;
Immune checkpoint inhibitors;
Tumor microenvironment;
Lymphocytes, tumor-infiltrating
- From:
Journal of Leukemia & Lymphoma
2023;32(12):729-735
- CountryChina
- Language:Chinese
-
Abstract:
Objective:To explore the levels of programmed death receptor 1 (PD-1) and lymphocyte activating gene 3 (LAG-3) in the immune microenvironment of diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (DLBCL), their relationship with clinicopathological features, and their impact on prognosis.Methods:The tumor tissue sections and formaldehyde fixed paraffin embedded tissues from 174 DLBCL patients diagnosed at the First Affiliated Hospital of Xinjiang Medical University from February 2012 to August 2017 were retrospectively collected. The tissue chips were prepared, and the immunohistochemistry (IHC) method was used to detect the expressions of PD-1 and LAG-3 proteins in tumor infiltrating lymphocytes (TIL) of tissue chips [including whether they were positive (positive for IHC score 1-9 points, negative for 0 point) and expression level (high expression was 4-9 points on IHC score, low expression was 0-3 points)]. The relationship between the expression levels of PD-1 and LAG-3 and the clinicopathological characteristics of patients was analyzed. Spearman correlation coefficient was used to analyze the correlation between the expression levels of PD-1 and LAG-3. Kaplan-Meier method was used to draw overall survival (OS) and progression free survival (PFS) curves of patients with different expression levels of PD-1 and LAG-3, and log-rank test was used for comparison between the groups. Univariate and multivariate Cox proportional hazards models were used to analyze the influencing factors of OS and PFS in patients.Results:Of the 174 DLBCL patients, 95 (54.6%) were male and 79 (45.4%) were female; the median age was 60 years old (5-87 years old). The proportions of patients with PD-1 and LAG-3 positive in TIL of tumor tissues were 79.3% (138/174) and 78.8% (137/174), and the proportions of patients with high expression were 35.6% (62/174) and 37.9% (66/174), respectively. Among patients with bone marrow involvement, the proportion of patients with high expression of PD-1 [62.5% (15/24) vs. 32.5% (39/120), P= 0.006], the proportion of patients with high expression of LAG-3 [54.2% (13/24) vs. 32.5% (39/120), P= 0.050] were higher than those without bone marrow involvement. The expression levels of PD-1 and LAG-3 were not associated with gender, age, clinical stage, international prognostic index score, functional status (PS) score, lactate dehydrogenase level, whether there were B symptoms, whether it was intranodal, tumor length, whether it was germinal center B cell type, number of extranodal involvement sites, and whether it was treated with R-CHOP regimen (all P > 0.05). There was a positive correlation between PD-1 and LAG-3 expression levels in TIL of tumor tissues ( r = 0.202, P = 0.008). Multivariate Cox regression analysis showed that PS score (>2 points vs. ≤2 points: HR = 5.458, 95% CI 2.082-14.307, P = 0.001), R-CHOP regimen treatment (no vs. yes: HR = 2.181, 95% CI 1.086-4.379, P = 0.028) were independent influencing factors of OS, and PS score (>2 points vs. ≤2 points: HR = 3.913, 95% CI 1.579-9.698, P = 0.003), R-CHOP regimen treatment (no vs. yes: HR = 2.609, 95% CI 1.412-4.819, P = 0.024), LAG-3 expression level (low expression vs. high expression: HR = 0.531, 95% CI 0.283-0.995, P = 0.048) were independent influencing factors of PFS. There were no statistical differences in PFS and OS between patients with high and low PD-1 expression levels in TIL (both P > 0.05). PFS and OS in patients with high LAG-3 expression were worse than those in patients with low expression (both P < 0.05). OS in patients with high expressions of PD-1 and LAG-3 was worse than that in patients with low expressions of PD-1 and LAG-3 ( P = 0.044). Conclusions:The expression levels of PD-1 and LAG-3 in TIL of DLBCL patients' tumor tissues are related to bone marrow involvement, which are not related to most other clinicopathological features, and the prognosis of patients with high expressions of PD-1 and LAG-3 is poor.
