OBJECTIVES: To explore the expression of programmed death ligand-1 (PD-L1) as well as the correlation between the expression and the clinicopathological features or prognosis in non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). METHODS: The expression of PD-L1 protein in 254 cases of surgically resected lung adenocarcinoma (L-ADC), 228 cases of surgically resected lung squamous cell cancer (L-SCC), and 99 cases of non-cancerous control lung tissues was detected with immunohistochemical SP method. The correlation between the PD-L1 expression and clinicopathological features was analyzed. Kaplan-Meier univariate and Cox multivariate regression analyses were performed to assess the prognosis of patients with L-ADC and L-SCC, respectively. RESULTS: Positive percentage of PD-L1 protein expression was higher in the tissues of L-ADC and L-SCC than that in the non-cancerous control lung tissues respectively (both CONCLUSIONS The positive percentage of PD-L1 protein expression is higher in the L-SCC patients than that in the L-ADC patients. Positive expression of PD-L1 protein can be served as an independent prognostic factor of poor prognosis in the patients with L-ADC.
Adenocarcinoma of Lung ; B7-H1 Antigen/genetics* ; Biomarkers, Tumor ; Carcinoma, Non-Small-Cell Lung/surgery* ; Humans ; Lung Neoplasms/surgery* ; Patients ; Prognosis