Evidence map›Paper›PMID 29163797›Full record

ArticleOncotarget2017

PD-L1 expression on immune cells is a favorable prognostic factor for vulvar squamous cell carcinoma patients.

Jacek J Sznurkowski, Anton Żawrocki, Katarzyna Sznurkowska, Rafał Pęksa, Wojciech Biernat

Open access · diamondAbstract read
PubMed Full text at PMC Publisher
In one paragraph

Article in Oncotarget, 2017. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 25 papers, 3 of them syntheses that pooled it.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
25citing papers in PubMed, 3 pooled it
2.0field-weighted citation impact, top 11% of its field
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

25 citing papers in PubMed, 3 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 50 citations in OpenAlex.

  1. Pooled it
  2. Pooled it
  3. Pooled it
  4. A Phase II Basket Trial of Dual Anti-CTLA-4 and Anti-PD-1 Blockade in Rare Tumors SWOG S1609: Vulvar Cancers.Clinical cancer research : an official journal of the American Association for Cancer Research · 2025
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  18. Immune checkpoint status and tumor microenvironment in vulvar squamous cell carcinoma.Virchows Archiv : an international journal of pathology · 2020
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  19. CD274 (PD-L1), CDKN2A (p16), TP53, and EGFR immunohistochemical profile in primary, recurrent and metastatic vulvar cancer.Modern pathology : an official journal of the United States and Canadian Academy of Pathology, Inc · 2020
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4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

5 authors at 1 institution in 1 country.

Jacek J SznurkowskiDepartment of Oncological Surgery, The Medical University, Gdańsk, Poland.
Anton ŻawrockiDepartment of Pathology, The Medical University, Gdańsk, Poland.
Katarzyna SznurkowskaDepartment of Pediatrics, Pediatric Gastroenterology, Hepathology and Nutrition, The Medical University, Gdańsk, Poland.
Rafał PęksaDepartment of Pathology, The Medical University, Gdańsk, Poland.
Wojciech BiernatDepartment of Pathology, The Medical University, Gdańsk, Poland.
Gdańsk Medical University · PL

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

backgroundAnti-immune programmed death-ligand 1 (PD-L1) pathway is used by the tumor to overcome immune system and serves as immunotherapy target in various malignancies.

aimTo investigate the expression of PD-L1 in vulvar squamous cell carcinoma (vSCC) and to assess it's clinicopathological and prognostic significance.

methodsImmunohistochemical PD-L1 expression was evaluated in 84 vSCCs with previously defined status of p16 and DNA-HPV, infiltration of immune cells: CD8+, CD4+, FOXP3+, CD56+, CD68+, and GZB+ cells. PD-L1 positivity was defined as ≥5% of PD-L1-positive cells. Survival analyses included the Kaplan-Meier method, log-rank test and Cox proportional hazards model.

resultsPD-L1 expression was detected on cancer and peritumoral immune cells. PD-L1-positivity of cancer nests (27/84, 32.1%) was correlated with higher infiltration of CD4+ (p=0.037), CD8+ (p=0.02), FOXP3+ (p=0.007), CD68+ (p=0.021) cells, while PD-L1 positivity of peritumoral immune cells (51/84, 60.7%) was correlated with higher infiltration of intraepithelial FOXP3+ cells only (p=0.037).PD-L1-positivity of cancer cells but not immune cells, was more frequently observed in p16-negative tumors (p=0.004). High-risk HPV-status did not correlate with the PD-L1 status of cancer and immune cells (p=1.000) and (p=1.000) respectively). Median follow up was 89.20 months (range 1.7-189.5). PD-L1 positivity of peritumoral immune cells was found to be an independent favorable prognostic factor for OS. Conclusion: This study highlights the importance of comprehensive PD-L1 assessment in both cancer and immune cells. PD-L1 expression on peritumoral immune cells seems to be an additional prognostic factor in vSCC patients and may influence the results by anti-PD-L1 treatment.

Indexed as

HPVp16PD-L1prognosisvulvar SCC

Identifiers

PMID29163797
PMCPMC5685718
OpenAlexW2755163846

What OpenQuestion holds

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LicenceCC BY
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Registered trials

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Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.