Intratumor heterogeneity of PD-L1 expression in head and neck squamous cell carcinoma

Br J Cancer. 2019 May;120(10):1003-1006. doi: 10.1038/s41416-019-0449-y. Epub 2019 Apr 10.

Abstract

Intratumor heterogeneity may contribute to the ambiguous clinical results on PD-L1 status as a predictor for immunotherapy response in patients with HNSCC. This decreases the utility of PD-L1 expression from single tumour biopsies as a predictive biomarker. In this prospective study, intratumor heterogeneity of PD-L1 expression in HNSCC was investigated with both Tumour Proportion Score (TPS) and Combined Positive Score (CPS). Thirty-three whole surgical specimens from 28 patients with HNSCC were included. PD-L1 expression in six random core biopsies from each surgical specimen was used to assess the concordance between multiple biopsies and the negative predictive value of a single negative core biopsy. With 1% cut off, 36% of the specimens were concordant with TPS and 52% with CPS. With a 50% cut-off value the concordance was 70% with TPS and 55% with CPS. Defining a tumour as positive if just a single-one of the biopsies was positive, the negative predictive value (NPV) of a single negative core biopsy was 38.9 and 0% (1% cut off), and 79.9% and 62.8% (50% cut off) for TPS and CPS, respectively. In conclusion, PD-L1 positivity varies markedly within the tumour, both with TPS and CPS, challenging the utility of this biomarker.

Publication types

  • Research Support, N.I.H., Extramural
  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • B7-H1 Antigen / genetics*
  • Biopsy
  • Female
  • Gene Expression Regulation, Neoplastic / genetics
  • Genetic Heterogeneity*
  • Humans
  • Male
  • Programmed Cell Death 1 Receptor / genetics*
  • Signal Transduction / genetics
  • Squamous Cell Carcinoma of Head and Neck / genetics*
  • Squamous Cell Carcinoma of Head and Neck / pathology
  • Squamous Cell Carcinoma of Head and Neck / surgery

Substances

  • B7-H1 Antigen
  • CD274 protein, human
  • PDCD1 protein, human
  • Programmed Cell Death 1 Receptor