TFG-β Nuclear Staining as a Potential Relapse Risk Factor in Early-Stage Non-Small-Cell Lung Cancer.
Nuria Cárdenas-QuesadaLeticia Díaz-BeltránCarmen Rosa-GarridoBélgica Márquez-LoboAdela Sabio-GonzálezRafael J Luque-BaronaMaría Isabel NúñezPedro Sánchez-RoviraPublished in: International journal of molecular sciences (2022)
Nowadays, the impact of the tumor-immune microenvironment (TME) in non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC) prognosis and treatment response remains unclear. Thus, we evaluated the expression of PD-L1, tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes (TILs), and transforming growth factor beta (TGF-β) in NSCLC to identify differences in TME, detect possible new prognostic factors, and assess their relationship. We retrospectively analyzed 55 samples from patients who underwent NSCLC surgery and had over a 5-year follow-up. PD-L1 expression was determined by immunohistochemistry following standard techniques. The presence of TILs was evaluated at low magnification and classified into two categories, "intense" and "non-intense". Cytoplasmic TGF-β staining visualization was divided into four categories, and unequivocal nuclear staining in >1% of viable tumor cells was defined as "present" or "absent". Our aim was to identify differences in disease-free survival (DFS) and overall survival (OS). Tumor stage was the only objective prognostic factor for OS. PD-L1 expression and the presence of TILs had no prognostic impact, neither their combination. There seems to be a lower expression of PD-L1 and a higher expression of TILs in early stages of the disease. Our TGF-β nuclear staining analysis was promising, since it was associated with worse DFS, revealing this protein as a possible prognostic biomarker of recurrence for resectable NSCLC.
Keyphrases
- prognostic factors
- transforming growth factor
- free survival
- small cell lung cancer
- poor prognosis
- epithelial mesenchymal transition
- early stage
- advanced non small cell lung cancer
- binding protein
- flow cytometry
- minimally invasive
- stem cells
- brain metastases
- risk factors
- long non coding rna
- end stage renal disease
- ejection fraction
- squamous cell carcinoma
- acute coronary syndrome
- climate change
- radiation therapy
- coronary artery disease
- lymph node
- amino acid
- rectal cancer
- neoadjuvant chemotherapy
- peritoneal dialysis