Expression of PD‑1, PD‑L1 and PD‑L2 is associated with differentiation status and histological type of endometrial cancer

Mo,Zhongfu; Liu,Jing; Zhang,Qiuyang; Chen,Zhiquan; Mei,Jiandong; Liu,Lunxu; Yang,Shijie; Li,Huina; Zhou,Lifei; You,Zongbing

doi:10.3892/ol.2016.4744

Expression of PD‑1, PD‑L1 and PD‑L2 is associated with differentiation status and histological type of endometrial cancer

Authors:
- Zhongfu Mo
- Jing Liu
- Qiuyang Zhang
- Zhiquan Chen
- Jiandong Mei
- Lunxu Liu
- Shijie Yang
- Huina Li
- Lifei Zhou
- Zongbing You
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Affiliations: Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Shijiazhuang Maternal and Child Health Care Hospital, Shijiazhuang, Hebei 050000, P.R. China, Department of Structural and Cellular Biology, Tulane University, New Orleans, LA 70112, USA, Department of Thoracic Surgery, West China Hospital, Sichuan University, Chengdu, Sichuan 610041, P.R. China, Department of Pathology, Shijiazhuang Maternal and Child Health Care Hospital, Shijiazhuang, Hebei 050000, P.R. China
Published online on: June 16, 2016 https://doi.org/10.3892/ol.2016.4744
Pages: 944-950
Copyright: © Mo et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of Creative Commons Attribution License.

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Abstract

Endometrial cancer (EC) is the most frequent gynecological malignancy and a major cause of morbidity and mortality for women worldwide. Programmed cell death protein 1 (PD‑1) and its ligands programmed death ligand 1 (PD‑L1) and programmed death ligand 2 (PD‑L2) have been well studied in lung cancer, melanoma and renal‑cell cancer. However, few studies have been performed in EC. The purpose of the present study was to assess the expression of PD‑1, PD‑L1 and PD‑L2 in 35 human normal endometrial tissue samples and 75 human EC tissue samples using immunohistochemical staining. It was found that 61.3% of ECs were positive for PD‑1 staining, which was almost exclusively found in the tumor‑infiltrating immune cells. By contrast, PD‑1 was not expressed in the tumor cells or normal endometrial tissues. It was also found that 14.3% of normal endometria and 17.3% of EC tissues were positive for PD‑L1 expression, while 20.0% of normal endometrium and 37.3% of EC tissues were positive for PD‑L2 expression; however, there was no statistically significant difference between the normal endometrium and EC tissues. PD‑1 expression in the tumor‑infiltrating immune cells was more frequently found in the moderately and poorly‑differentiated ECs and non‑endometrioid (type II) ECs than in the well‑differentiated ECs and endometrioid (type I) ECs. Similarly, PD‑L1 and PD‑L2 expression in the tumor‑infiltrating immune cells was more frequently found in the moderately and poorly‑differentiated ECs and type II ECs than in the type I ECs. The present findings indicate a possible better outcome for future treatment with anti‑PD‑1 or anti‑PD‑L1 antibody‑based therapies against these subgroups of endometrial cancers with frequent expression of the PD‑1/PD‑L1/PD‑L2 axis.

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