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A meta-analysis reveals prognostic role of programmed death ligand-1 in Asian patients with non-small cell lung cancer

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Summary

Accumulating studies explored the clinicopathologic and prognostic value of programmed death ligand-1 (PD-L1) in non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC), but the results were controversial. We therefore conducted a meta-analysis to evaluate the predictive role of PD-L1 in NSCLC patients. We systematically collected relevant studies from PubMed, Embase, Web of Science and China National Knowledge Infrastructure. The pooled hazard ratios (HRs) with 95% confidence intervals (CIs) for overall survival (OS), and odd ratios (ORs) with 95% CIs for clinicopathologic factors were calculated. A total of 15 studies involving 3605 patients were included in this meta-analysis. The results showed no prognostic role of PD-L1 in the whole patients (HR=1.60, 95% CI: 0.88–2.89, P=0.123). Subgroup analysis showed that PD-L1 was associated with decreased OS in Asian patients (HR=2.00, 95% CI: 1.55–2.57, P<0.001). Among all the clinicopathologic factors, PD-L1 overexpression was significantly in relevance with poor tumor cell differentiation (HR=1.84, 95% CI: 1.49–2.28, P<0.001), late stage (HR=1.21, 95% CI: 1.02–1.43, P=0.026) and anaplastic lymphoma kinase (ALK) translocation (HR=2.63, 95% CI: 1.08–6.40, P=0.034), but not with other factors. In conclusion, our meta-analysis demonstrated that PD-L1 has a prognostic role in Asian patients with NSCLC.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Cancer Center, Union Hospital, Tongji Medical College, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, 430022, China

    Xiao-yan Hu  (胡晓燕), Yue Hu  (胡 悦), Rui Gong  (龚 瑞), Jin-yan Liang  (梁金燕) & Li Liu  (刘 莉)

  2. Department of Radiology, Tongji Hospital, Tongji Medical College, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, 430030, China

    Wei Zhang  (张 炜)

  3. Department of Radiation Oncology, Hubei Cancer Hospital, Wuhan, 430079, China

    Yong Zhang  (张 用)

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  1. Xiao-yan Hu  (胡晓燕)
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  2. Wei Zhang  (张 炜)
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Correspondence to Li Liu  (刘 莉).

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This research was supported by National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 81372260)

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Hu, Xy., Zhang, W., Hu, Y. et al. A meta-analysis reveals prognostic role of programmed death ligand-1 in Asian patients with non-small cell lung cancer. J. Huazhong Univ. Sci. Technol. [Med. Sci.] 36, 313–320 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11596-016-1585-8

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11596-016-1585-8

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