PT - JOURNAL ARTICLE AU - THOMAS HECKING AU - THORE THIESLER AU - JANINA HALBE AU - LUCIA OTTEN AU - FLORIAN RECKER AU - HEIDRUN GEVENSLEBEN AU - TIM MÜLLER AU - CYNTHIA SCHILLER AU - EVA K. EGGER AU - ROLF FIMMERS AU - MATTHIAS B. STOPE AU - GLEN KRISTIANSEN AU - ALEXANDER MUSTEA TI - Programmed Cell Death Ligand-1 (PDL-1) Correlates With Tumor Infiltration by Immune Cells and Represents a Promising Target for Immunotherapy in Endometrial Cancer AID - 10.21873/anticanres.15606 DP - 2022 Mar 01 TA - Anticancer Research PG - 1367--1376 VI - 42 IP - 3 4099 - http://ar.iiarjournals.org/content/42/3/1367.short 4100 - http://ar.iiarjournals.org/content/42/3/1367.full SO - Anticancer Res2022 Mar 01; 42 AB - Background/Aim: Endometrial carcinoma (EC) is one of the most common gynecological cancers in the Western Hemisphere. Nevertheless, there are not enough appropriate treatment options, especially for advanced stages. The immune checkpoint blockade represents a promising alternative to established cancer therapies by suppressing the immune-inhibitory activity of the immune checkpoint factors programmed cell death-1 (PD-1) and programmed cell death ligand-1 (PD-L1). In the present study, we characterized the clinical relevance of the biomarker PD-L1 expression in terms of its prognostic capabilities in EC. Patients and Methods: Tumor tissue samples from 87 EC patients were retrospectively analyzed by immunohistochemistry (PD-L1, p16, estrogen receptor, progesterone receptor, HER2/neu, Ki-67, CD3, CD20, CD68). Results: A total of 17.3% of EC patients were PD-L1 positive. PD-L1 status did not represent a suitable prognostic marker in EC, but correlated with T3/T4stage, positive lymph node status, p16 expression, and absence of estrogen and progesterone receptor. PD-L1 positive tissues showed increased infiltration with lymphocytes, monocytes, and macrophages, although not statistically significant in every case. Conclusion: In EC, PD-L1 expression has no prognostic significance, but correlates with other oncogenic factors and indicates increased infiltration of the tumor with immune cells. Thus, PD-1/PD-L1 immunecheckpoint blockade seems to be very promising, at least in a subset of EC patients.