PDL-1 Expression and Survival in Metastatic Non-small Cell Lung Cancer Patients Who Received Chemotherapy as First-Line Treatment

OBJECTIVE: To show the effect of programmed cell death protein-1ligand (PDL-1) level on survival times in patients with metastatic non-small cell lung cancer (mNSCLC) receiving chemotherapy, to determine the relationship between PDL-1 level, neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratio (NLR) and platelet-to-lymphocyte ratio (PLR).

MATERIAL AND METHODS: The data of 158 patients who received chemotherapy for mNSCLC were evaluated retrospectively. Clinical and demographic data, PDL-1 expression levels and follow-up periods of the patients were recorded. The patients were divided into 2 groups according to PDL-1 levels. 

RESULTS: In all patients, progression free survival (PFS) was 5.6 months and overall survival (OS) was 18.8 months. Patients with low PDL-1 had a longer PFS than patients with high PDL-1 (p:0.038). In the gemcitabine and taxane groups, patients with low PDL-1 had a longer PFS than patients with high PDL-1 (p:0.047). There was a significant correlation between NLR and PDL-1 levels. In the groups with high PDL-1, patients with low NLR levels had higher OS than patients with high NLR level (p:0.043). Also, there was a significant difference between the OS patients with low and high PLR levels (p:0.520).

CONCLUSION: In patients with mNSCLC whose PDL-1 levels and NLR levels are low, immunogenic chemotherapies such as gemcitabine and taxane can be tried as an alternative treatment. 

Cite this article as: Gürsoy P, Çakar B, Günenç D, Nart D, Çinkooğlu A, Katgı N. PDL-1 expression and survival in metastatic non-small cell lung cancer patients who received chemotherapy as first-line treatment. Turk Thorac J. 2022;23(1):45-51.