Dados do Trabalho

Título

Preoperative analysis of serum expression of soluble PD-L1 and PD-L2 in patients with gastric cancer

Introdução

Gastric Cancer (GC) is the third main cause of death related to cancer worldwide. Cancerous cells can show immunologic inhibition to stimulate tumor progression and distant metastasis. PD-L1 and PD-L2 are immunosuppressive proteins and are currently being evaluate as targets to modulate the antitumoral immune response. A previous study showed an increased expression of PD-L1 in the tissue of patients with GC. This was associated with poor prognosis and the serum level of PD-L1 was significantly higher in patients with GC when compared with healthy volunteers. The expression of PD-L2 in the tissues is also associated with a worse prognosis. However, its serum expression assessment has not been established and its role has not been completely elucidated.

Objetivo

To assess the soluble levels of PD-L1 and PD-L2 in the serum of patients before surgery for GC and to compare with healthy patients.

Método

A cross-sectional study, carried out in a tertiary center, comparing 62 patients with GC and 18 healthy controls. The concentration of PD-L1 and PD-L2 was determined by enzyme‐linked immunosorbent assay and expressed in pg/mL. We have also analyzed patients according to their stage (I-II, III and IV) and pathology findings (diffuse and intestinal).Avana test was used used to compare groups.

Resultados

Patients with GC showed increased levels of PD-L1 when compared with healthy controls (P= 0.004) and lower levels of PD-L2 (p= 0.0003). We did not find a statistically significant correlation when studying subgroups of patients according to tumor stage and pathology findings.

Conclusão

Conclusion: The understanding of the clinical relevance of PD-L1 and PD-L2 can help us with diagnosis and the development of new immunotherapy biomarkers. Our study showed an increase in PD-L1 and a decrease in PD-L2 plasma levels in patients with GC when compared to healthy volunteers. These results encourage the need to better understand the relation between their serum expression in patients with GC, and can contribute to early detection and the development of new therapeutic targets.

Palavras-chave

soluble PD-L1, soluble PD-L2, gastric cancer