ArticleCancer medicine2019
The prognostic impact of programmed cell death 1 and its ligand and the correlation with epithelial-mesenchymal transition in thymic carcinoma.
Article in Cancer medicine, 2019. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 26 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
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Who cites it
26 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 26 citations in OpenAlex.
- Prognostic and clinicopathological roles of programmed death-ligand 1 (PD-L1) expression in thymic epithelial tumors: A meta-analysis.Thoracic cancer · 2020Pooled it
- Immunotherapeutic potential of CD4 and CD8 single-positive T cells in thymic epithelial tumors.Scientific reports · 2020Trial
- Prognostic and predictive biomarkers in thymic epithelial tumors: beyond traditional staging: a narrative review.Mediastinum (Hong Kong, China) · 2026Review
- Pathobiology of thymic epithelial tumours and the treatment strategy based on immuno-oncological characteristics: a narrative review.Mediastinum (Hong Kong, China) · 2026Review
- Immune Checkpoint Therapy for Thymic Carcinoma.Cancers · 2025Review
- Article
- ACTN4 is associated with the malignant potential of thymic epithelial tumors through the β-catenin/Slug pathway.Cancer science · 2024Article
- Review
- Perspectives on surgical treatment for thymic epithelial tumors: a narrative review.Gland surgery · 2024Review
- Immunotherapy in thymic epithelial tumors: tissue predictive biomarkers for immune checkpoint inhibitors.Exploration of targeted anti-tumor therapy · 2024Review
- Review
- Genome-wide CRISPR screens define determinants of epithelial-mesenchymal transition mediated immune evasion by pancreatic cancer cells.Science advances · 2023Article
- Immunotherapy of thymic epithelial tumors: molecular understandings and clinical perspectives.Molecular cancer · 2023Review
- Harnessing epithelial-mesenchymal plasticity to boost cancer immunotherapy.Cellular & molecular immunology · 2023Review
- Skeletal muscle and related protein expression as prognostic factors in thymic squamous cell carcinoma.Journal of thoracic disease · 2022Article
- STAT1/IFIT2 signaling pathway is involved in PD-L1-mediated epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition in human esophageal cancer.Clinical & translational oncology : official publication of the Federation of Spanish Oncology Societies and of the National Cancer Institute of Mexico · 2022Article
- Review
- The efficacy and safety of immunotherapy in thymic epithelial tumors: more effective, more risky: a systematic review.Journal of thoracic disease · 2021Review
- Review
- Old but gold: the role of drug combinations in improving response to immune check-point inhibitors in thoracic malignancies beyond NSCLC.Exploration of targeted anti-tumor therapy · 2021Review
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
10 authors at 2 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundThe significance of epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT) and immune checkpoint proteins in thymic carcinoma remains unknown. We examined the clinical significance of EMT, tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes expressing the immune checkpoint protein, programmed cell death 1 (PD-1 + TILs), and the expression of PD-1 ligand 1 (PD-L1) in thymic carcinoma (TC). We also investigated the relationships between these immune checkpoint proteins and the EMT status and examined the impact of induction chemotherapy on patients with tumors that express these proteins.
methodsThe relationship between PD-1 + TILs/PD-L1 and clinicopathological findings including EMT was investigated by immunohistochemistry (IHC) of surgically resected samples from 43 patients with TC. In 15 patients receiving induction therapy (IT), those factors were compared before and after IT.
resultsWith IHC, 26 cases (60.5%) were positive for PD-L1, and 19 cases were positive for PD-1 + TILs (44.2%). The disease-free survival rate in patients showing EMT and who were PD-1/PD-L1 positive was significantly worse compared to negative cases (EMT; P = 0.0095, PD-1; P = 0.001, PD-L1; P = 0.0037). We found a significant relationship between PD-L1 and EMT status (P = 0.01). In patients who received IT, PD-L1 increased, and the change was strongly correlated with EMT status (P = 0.01).
conclusionEpithelial-mesenchymal transition, PD-L1, and PD-1 + TILs have prognostic impact, and PD-L1 is correlated with EMT status. PD-L1 expression after IT was significantly higher compared to before IT and was correlated with the EMT change. Thus, PD-L1 may be upregulated during EMT, and anti-PD-1/PD-L1 immunotherapy may provide reliable treatment of TC in combination with chemotherapy.
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