Microsatellite Instability, Epstein-Barr Virus, and Programmed Cell Death Ligand 1 as Predictive Markers for Immunotherapy in Gastric Cancer.
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ABSTRACT:
SUBMITTER: Yu HY
PROVIDER: S-EPMC8750088 | biostudies-literature |
REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature
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Project description:The effect of anti-programmed cell death 1 (PD-1) antibody in Epstein-Barr virus-associated gastric cancer (EBVaGC) was debatable, and no predictive biomarkers for efficacy have been reported. Public reports on anti-PD-1 antibody monotherapy-treated EBVaGC with available programmed death ligand-1 (PD-L1) expression status were summarized and analyzed. Relevance with clinicopathologic characteristics of PD-L1 expression by immunohistochemistry was analyzed in 159 patients diagnosed with EBVaGC. Relevance with genomic transcriptome and mutation profile of PD-L1 status in EBVaGC was assessed with three datasets, the cancer genome atlas (TCGA), Gene Expression Omnibus (GEO) GSE51575, and GSE62254. Based on the data from 8 reports, patients with positive PD-L1 expression (n = 30) had significantly superior objective response rate (ORR) than patients with negative PD-L1 expression (n = 9) (63.3% vs. 0%, P = .001) in EBVaGC receiving anti-PD-1 antibody monotherapy. PD-L1 positivity was associated with less aggressive clinicopathological characteristics and was an independent predictor for a longer disease-free survival (hazard ratio [HR] and 95% CI: 0.45 [0.22-0.92], P = .03) and overall survival (HR and 95% CI: 0.17 [0.06-0.43], P < .001). Analysis of public EBVaGC transcriptome and mutation datasets revealed enhanced immune-related signal pathways in PD-L1high EBVaGC and distinct mutation patterns in PD-L1low EBVaGC. PD-L1 positivity indicates a subtype of EBVaGC with 'hot' immune microenvironment, lower aggressiveness, better prognosis, and higher sensitivity to anti-PD-1 immunotherapy.
| S-EPMC8216206 | biostudies-literature
Project description:Most nasopharyngeal carcinomas (NPCs) in a high-incidence population are driven by Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) infection. EBV-associated malignancies have increased expression of the programmed death-ligand 1 (PD-L1). Immunotherapy agents targeting the PD-1/PD-L1 pathway have achieved durable treatment effects in patients with various cancer types including EBV-associated malignancies. In this study, we sought to investigate PD-L1 expression in a cohort of patients with NPCs from the Philippines. Fifty-six NPCs were studied for PD-L1, p16, and DNA mismatch repair (MMR) deficiency by immunohistochemistry. One case with MMR deficiency was also assessed for microsatellite instability (MSI) by polymerase chain reaction. EBV and human papillomavirus (HPV) status were tested by in situ hybridization. All NPCs were p16 negative. Three of the 56 NPCs (5%) were EBV negative (EBV-) and HPV negative, while one NPC (1/56, 2%) was EBV positive and showed MSI (EBV+/MSI). Positive PD-L1 expression (PD-L1+), defined as membranous staining in ≥1% tumor cells, was seen in 64% (36/56) of NPCs. All three EBV- NPCs were PD-L1+ as was the EBV+/MSI NPC. PD-L1+ was seen significantly more often in NPCs from non-smokers than those from smokers (23/28, 82% vs 9/18, 50%; P = 0.047). PD-L1+ was not associated with pT, pN, distant metastasis, or clinical stage (P > 0.05). PD-L1+ was not associated with overall survival (P = 0.473). In summary, our results show frequent PD-L1 expression in NPCs regardless of EBV status and a preferential PD-L1 expression in non-smokers. MSI and HPV positivity are exceedingly rare in NPCs.
| S-EPMC5429283 | biostudies-literature
Project description:BACKGROUND:The prognostic potential of PD-L1 is currently unclear in gastric carcinomas, although the immune checkpoint PD-1/PD-L1 inhibitors have produced promising results in clinical trials. METHODS:We explored the prognostic implications of programmed death ligand 1 (PD-L1) in 514 consecutive surgically-resected gastric carcinomas. Overall survival and recurrence-free survival were evaluated. Immunohistochemistry for PD-L1, CD8, FOXP3, and PD-1, and molecular grouping by in situ hybridization for Epstein-Barr virus (EBV)-encoded small RNAs and multiplex PCR for microsatellite instability (MSI) markers were performed. Additionally, to explore the function inherent to PD-L1, PD-L1-specific siRNA transfection, cell proliferation, invasion, migration and apoptosis assays were conducted in five gastric carcinoma cell lines. RESULTS:PD-L1(+) tumor and immune cells were observed in 101 (20%) and 244 patients (47%), respectively. "Tumoral PD-L1(+)/immune cell PD-L1(-)/CD8+/low tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes (TILs)," and more advanced-stage tumors were associated with unfavorable clinical outcomes in the entire cohort through multivariate analysis. Furthermore, tumoral PD-L1(+)/FOXP3+/low TILs were associated with worse clinical outcomes in EBV-positive and MSI-high carcinomas. Tumoral PD-L1(+) alone was an adverse prognostic factor in EBV-positive carcinomas, but not in MSI-high carcinomas, whereas PD-L1(+) immune cells or FOXP3+/high TILs alone were correlated with a favorable prognosis. PD-L1 knockdown in gastric carcinoma cells suppressed cell proliferation, invasion and migration, and increased apoptosis, which were all statistically significant in two EBV(+) cell lines, but not all in three EBV(-) cell lines. CONCLUSIONS:The prognostic impact of PD-L1 may depend on the tumor microenvironment, and statuses of EBV and MSI, although PD-L1 innately promotes cancer cell survival in cell-based assays. The combination of "tumoral PD-L1/immune cell PD-L1/CD8+ TILs" may serve as an independent prognostic factor. Tumoral PD-L1(+)/immune cell PD-L1(-)/CD8+/low TILs showing a worse prognosis may be beneficial for combinatorial therapies of anti-PD-L1/PD-1 and anti-cytotoxic T-lymphocyte associated antigen 4 (CTLA4) that would promote effector T cells, thus attack the tumor.
| S-EPMC7271517 | biostudies-literature
Project description:BackgroundCombined treatment with 5-fluorouracil and cisplatin (FP chemotherapy) is an effective neoadjuvant regimen for gastric carcinoma. However, it is ineffective in half of all patients. This study tests the hypothesis that genetic markers might identify those patients with gastric cancer who would respond to neoadjuvant FP chemotherapy.Materials and methodsA total of 23 patients with gastric carcinoma were treated with neoadjuvant chemotherapy. Pretreatment biopsy specimens before neoadjuvant chemotherapy were obtained from 15 of 23 patients, and resected tumors were obtained from all 23. Genetic studies were performed to detect allelic imbalance (AI), microsatellite instability (MSI), and K-ras mutation.ResultsA clinical response was observed in 13 of 23 patients. Kaplan-Meier survival curve showed that clinical responder group had a significantly higher likelihood of overall survival (P = 0.0165), compared with nonresponder group. In 23 resection specimens, 10 of 23 tumors presented AI at the p53 locus and/or MSI; 8 of the 10 tumors were nonresponders, while 12 of 13 tumors without p53 AI or MSI were responders (P = 0.0007). In 15 pretreatment biopsy specimens, 8 tumors had p53 AI and/or MSI; 7 of the 8 tumors were nonresponders, while 6 of 7 tumors without p53 AI or MSI were responders to preoperative chemotherapy (P = 0.008). Tumors with AI at the p53 locus and/or MSI were significantly more resistant to neoadjuvant chemotherapy. No relationship was found between K-ras mutations and responses.ConclusionsAnalysis for p53 AI and MSI might represent a clinically useful approach to predicting the response to neoadjuvant FP chemotherapy in gastric carcinoma.
| S-EPMC2865194 | biostudies-literature
Project description:BackgroundThe controversy of CpG island methylator phenotype (CIMP) in gastric cancer persists, despite the fact that many studies have been conducted on its relation with helicobacter pylori (H. pylori), Epstein-Barr virus (EBV), and microsatellite instability (MSI) and prognosis. To drive a more precise estimate of this postulated relationship, a meta-analysis was performed based on existing relevant studies.MethodsWe combined individual patient data from 12 studies which involved 1000 patients with gastric cancer, which met the criteria. We tabulated and analyzed parameters from each study, including H. pylori, EBV, MSI, and clinical information of patients.ResultsThe overall OR for H. pylori infection in CIMP positive group vs. negative group revealed that significantly elevated risks of positive H. pylori infection in the former were achieved (OR 2.23 95% CI, 1.25-4.00; P = 0.007, Pheterogeneity = 0.05). Similarly, strong relation between EBV infection and CIMP was achieved by OR 51.27 (95% CI, 9.39-279.86; P<0.00001, Pheterogeneity = 0.39). The overall OR for MSI in CIMP positive group vs. negative group was 4.44 (95% CI, 1.17-16.88; P = 0.03, Pheterogeneity = 0.01). However, there did not appear to be any correlations with clinical parameters such as tumor site, pathological type, cell differentiation, TNM stage, distant metastasis, lymph node metastasis, and 5-year survival.ConclusionsThe meta-analysis highlights the strong relation of CIMP with H. pylori, EBV, and MSI, but CIMP can not be used as a prognostic marker for gastric cancer.
| S-EPMC3903497 | biostudies-literature
Project description:Gastric cancer is a heterogenous disease with different phenotypes, genotypes, and clinical outcomes, including sensitivity to treatments and prognoses. Recent medical advances have enabled the classification of this heterogenous disease into several groups and the consequent analysis of their clinicopathological characteristics. Gastric cancer associated with Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) and microsatellite-unstable tumors are considered to be the two major subtypes as they are clearly defined by well-established methodologies, such as in situ hybridization and polymerase chain reaction-based analyses, respectively. However, discrepancies in the histological diagnosis of gastric neoplasms remain problematic, and international harmonization should be performed to improve our understanding of gastric carcinogenesis. We re-evaluated Japanese cases of early gastric cancer according to the current World Health Organization (WHO) criteria and classified them into genomic subtypes based on microsatellite instability (MSI) and EBV positivity to determine the initial genetic events in gastric carcinogenesis. A total of 113 Japanese early gastric cancers (including low- and high-grade dysplasias) treated with endoscopic resection over 5 years were archived in our hospital. A histological re-evaluation according to the WHO criteria revealed 54 adenocarcinomas, which were divided into 6 EBV-positive (11.1%), 7 MSI-high (MSI-H, 13.0%), and 41 microsatellite stable cases (75.9%). MSI-H adenocarcinoma was confirmed by an immunohistochemistry assay of mismatch repair proteins. Programmed death-ligand 1 immunostaining with two antibodies (E1L3N and SP263) was positive in tumor cells of one MSI-H adenocarcinoma case (1/7, 14.3%). The proportion of stained cells was higher with clone SP263 than with E1L3N. Histologically, EBV-positive carcinomas were poorly differentiated (83.8%), and MSI-H cancers were frequent in well to moderately differentiated adenocarcinoma (85.7%), indicating that the EBV-positive subtype presented with high-grade morphology even when an early lesion. Our study indicates that the WHO criteria are useful for subdividing Japanese early gastric cancers, and this subdivision may be useful for comparative analysis of precursor lesions and early carcinoma.
| S-EPMC8185367 | biostudies-literature
Project description:BackgroundResponse to immunotherapy in gastric cancer is associated with microsatellite instability (or mismatch repair deficiency) and Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) positivity. We therefore aimed to develop and validate deep learning-based classifiers to detect microsatellite instability and EBV status from routine histology slides.MethodsIn this retrospective, multicentre study, we collected tissue samples from ten cohorts of patients with gastric cancer from seven countries (South Korea, Switzerland, Japan, Italy, Germany, the UK and the USA). We trained a deep learning-based classifier to detect microsatellite instability and EBV positivity from digitised, haematoxylin and eosin stained resection slides without annotating tumour containing regions. The performance of the classifier was assessed by within-cohort cross-validation in all ten cohorts and by external validation, for which we split the cohorts into a five-cohort training dataset and a five-cohort test dataset. We measured the area under the receiver operating curve (AUROC) for detection of microsatellite instability and EBV status. Microsatellite instability and EBV status were determined to be detectable if the lower bound of the 95% CI for the AUROC was above 0·5.FindingsAcross the ten cohorts, our analysis included 2823 patients with known microsatellite instability status and 2685 patients with known EBV status. In the within-cohort cross-validation, the deep learning-based classifier could detect microsatellite instability status in nine of ten cohorts, with AUROCs ranging from 0·597 (95% CI 0·522-0·737) to 0·836 (0·795-0·880) and EBV status in five of eight cohorts, with AUROCs ranging from 0·819 (0·752-0·841) to 0·897 (0·513-0·966). Training a classifier on the pooled training dataset and testing it on the five remaining cohorts resulted in high classification performance with AUROCs ranging from 0·723 (95% CI 0·676-0·794) to 0·863 (0·747-0·969) for detection of microsatellite instability and from 0·672 (0·403-0·989) to 0·859 (0·823-0·919) for detection of EBV status.InterpretationClassifiers became increasingly robust when trained on pooled cohorts. After prospective validation, this deep learning-based tissue classification system could be used as an inexpensive predictive biomarker for immunotherapy in gastric cancer.FundingGerman Cancer Aid and German Federal Ministry of Health.
| S-EPMC8460994 | biostudies-literature
Project description:BackgroundPenile cancer (PC) is an extremely rare malignancy, and the patients at advanced stages have currently limited treatment options with disappointing results. Immune checkpoint inhibitors anti-programmed cell death 1 (PD-1)/programmed cell death ligand 1 (PD-L1) are currently changing the treatment of several tumors. Furthermore, the microsatellite instability (MSI) and the deficient mismatch repair system (dMMR) proteins represent predictive biomarkers for response to immune checkpoint therapy. Until present, few data have been reported related to PD-L1 expression and MSI in PC. The main aim of our study was the evaluation of PD-L1 expression in tumor cells (TCs) and tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes (TILs) in immune cells and the analysis of dMMR/MSI status in a large series of PCs.MethodsA series of 72 PC, including 65 usual squamous cell carcinoma (USCC), 1 verrucous, 4 basaloid, 1 warty, and 1 mixed (warty-basaloid), was collected. Immunohistochemistry (IHC) was performed to assess PD-L1 expression using two different anti-PD-L1 antibodies (clone SP263 and SP142 Ventana) and MMR proteins expression using anti-MLH1, anti-PMS2, anti-MSH2, and anti-MSH6 antibodies. PCR analysis was performed for the detection of MSI status.ResultsOf the 72 PC cases analyzed by IHC, 45 (62.5%) cases were TC positive and 57 (79%) cases were combined positive score (CPS) using PDL1 SP263. In our cohort, TILs were present in 62 out of 72 cases (86.1%), 47 (75.8%) out of 62 cases showed positivity to PDL1 clone SP142. In our series, 59 cases (82%) had pMMR, 12 cases (16.7%) had lo-paMMR, and only 1 case (1.3%) had MMR. PCR results showed that only one case lo-paMMR was MSI-H, and the case dMMR by IHC not confirmed MSI status.ConclusionOur findings showed that PD-L1 expression and MSI status represent frequent biological events in this tumor suggesting a rationale for a new frontier in the treatment of patients with PC based on the immune checkpoint inhibitors.
| S-EPMC9113025 | biostudies-literature
Project description:BACKGROUND:Epstein-Barr Virus (EBV) positive and microsatellite unstable (MSI-high) gastric cancer (GC) are molecular subgroups with distinctive molecular profiles. We explored the transcriptomic differences between EBV+ and MSI-high GCs, and the expression of current GC immunotherapy targets such as PD-1, PD-L1, CTLA4 and Dies1/VISTA. METHODS:Using Nanostring Technology and comparative bioinformatics, we analyzed the expression of 499 genes in 46 GCs, classified either as EBV positive (EBER in situ hybridization) or MSI-high (PCR/fragment analysis). PD-L1 protein expression was assessed by immunohistochemistry. RESULTS:From the 46 GCs, 27 tested MSI-high/EBV-, 15 tested MSS/EBV+ and four tested MSS/EBV-. The Nanostring CodeSet could segregate GCs according to MSI and, to a lesser extent, EBV status. Functional annotation of differentially expressed genes associated MSI-high/EBV- GCs with mitotic activity and MSS/EBV+ GCs with immune response. PD-L1 protein expression, evaluated in stromal immune cells, was lower in MSI-high/EBV- GCs. High mRNA expression of PD-1, CTLA4 and Dies1/VISTA and distinctive PD-1/PD-L1 co-expression patterns (PD-1high/PD-L1low, PD-1high/PDL1high) were associated with MSS/EBV+ molecular subtype and gastric cancer with lymphoid stroma (GCLS) morphological features. CONCLUSIONS:EBV+ and MSI-high GCs present distinct transcriptomic profiles. GCLS/EBV+ cases frequently present co-expression of multiple immunotherapy targets, a finding with putative therapeutic implications.
| S-EPMC6073163 | biostudies-literature
Project description:Blockade of the programmed death ligand 1 (PD-L1) and programmed cell death 1 (PD-1) receptor axis represents an effective form of cancer immunotherapy. Preclinical evidence initially suggested that gastric and gastroesophageal junction (GEJ) cancers are potentially immunotherapy-sensitive tumors. Early phase clinical trials have demonstrated promising antitumor activity with PD-1/PD-L1 blockade in advanced or metastatic gastric/GEJ cancer. Microsatellite instability (MSI) and PD-L1 expression have been shown to predict higher response to PD-1 inhibitors as highlighted by the recent approvals of pembrolizumab in treatment-refractory solid tumors with MSI status and the third-line or greater treatment of PD-L1 positive advanced gastric/GEJ cancers. However, predictive and prognostic biomarkers remain an ongoing need. In this review, we detail the preclinical evidence and early tissue biomarker analyses illustrating potential predictive biomarkers to PD-1/PD-L1 blockade in gastric/GEJ cancer. We also review the clinical development of PD-1/PD-L1 inhibitors in gastric/GEJ cancer and highlight several areas in need of future investigation in order to optimize the efficacy of PD-1/PD-L1 blockade in gastric/GEJ cancer.
| S-EPMC6034145 | biostudies-literature