Differential expression of programmed cell death ligand 1 (PD-L1) and inflammatory cells in basal cell carcinoma subtypes

Gompertz-Mattar, Matias; Perales, Juan; Sahu, Aditi; Mondaca, Sebastian; Gonzalez, Sergio; Uribe, Pablo; Navarrete-Dechent, Cristian

Abstract

Few studies have evaluated programmed cell death ligand (PD-L1) expression and lymphocytic infiltrates in Basal Cell Carcinoma (BCC). The objectives of this study are to assess PD-L1 expression and markers of local immune response in nodular, superficial, and morpheaform BCC, and compare it to normal, sun-exposed skin from the periphery of intradermal nevi. This was a retrospective study that included three histological subtypes of BCCs, and sun-exposed skin from the periphery of dermal nevi as quality controls. Tissue microarrays (TMA) were constructed with subsequent staining of H&E and immunohistochemistry (IHC) for CD4, CD8, FOXP3 and PD-L1. Non-automated quantification of the infiltrate in the intratumoral and stromal compartments on TMAs was performed. A total of 115 BCC (39 nodular, 39 morpheaform, and 37 superficial) and 41 sun-exposed skin samples were included (mean age 65.4 years; 52.6% females). BCC showed higher expression of PD-L1 (5.4 vs 0.7%, p < 0.001), CD8 (29.8 vs 19.7%, p = 0.002), and FOXP3 (0.3 vs 0.06%, p = 0.022) compared to sun-exposed skin. There was a higher PD-L1 expression in nodular BCC compared with other subtypes. Low-risk BCC subtypes (superficial and nodular) exhibited more PD-L1 expression in intratumoral and stromal immune infiltrates as compared to high-risk BCC subtypes. As a limitation, no immune cells function was evaluated in this study, only the presence/absence of T-lymphocyte sub-populations was recorded. Substantial differences in both PD-L1 expression and lymphocytic infiltrates were found amongst the histological subtypes of BCC and sun-exposed skin. Highest PD-L1 expression was found in nodular BCCs which suggests a potentially targetable strategy in the treatment of this most common BCC subtype.

Más información

Título según WOS: Differential expression of programmed cell death ligand 1 (PD-L1) and inflammatory cells in basal cell carcinoma subtypes
Título de la Revista: ARCHIVES OF DERMATOLOGICAL RESEARCH
Volumen: 314
Número: 8
Editorial: Springer
Fecha de publicación: 2022
Página de inicio: 777
Página final: 786
DOI:

10.1007/s00403-021-02289-w

Notas: ISI