Evidence map›Paper›PMID 34611279›Full record

ArticleScientific reports2021

Soluble PD-L1 is a predictive and prognostic biomarker in advanced cancer patients who receive immune checkpoint blockade treatment.

So Yeon Oh, Soyeon Kim, Bhumsuk Keam, Tae Min Kim, Dong-Wan Kim, Dae Seog Heo

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

Article in Scientific reports, 2021. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 94 papers, 6 of them syntheses that pooled it.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
94citing papers in PubMed, 6 pooled it
7.5field-weighted citation impact, top 2% 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

94 citing papers in PubMed, 6 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 112 citations in OpenAlex.

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  11. From Tumour to Bloodstream: Advancing PD-L1 Testing With Liquid Biopsies in Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer.Cytopathology : official journal of the British Society for Clinical Cytology · 2026
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34 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.

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

6 authors at 2 institutions in 1 country.

So Yeon OhMedical Oncology, Department of Internal Medicine, Pusan National University Yangsan Hospital, Yangsan, Republic of Korea.
Soyeon KimCancer Research Institute, Seoul National University and Integrated Major in Innovative Medical Science, Seoul National University College of Medicine, Seoul, Republic of Korea.
Bhumsuk KeamBiomedical Research Institute, Seoul National University, Seoul, Republic of Korea.
Tae Min KimBiomedical Research Institute, Seoul National University, Seoul, Republic of Korea.
Dong-Wan KimCancer Research Institute, Seoul National University and Integrated Major in Innovative Medical Science, Seoul National University College of Medicine, Seoul, Republic of Korea.
Dae Seog HeoBiomedical Research Institute, Seoul National University, Seoul, Republic of Korea. heo1013@snu.ac.kr.
Seoul National University · KRPusan National University Yangsan Hospital · KR

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

Circulating soluble programmed death-1 ligand (sPD-L1) is measurable in the serum of cancer patients. This study aimed to investigate the significance of sPD-L1 in cancer patients receiving immune checkpoint inhibitor therapy. Blood samples were obtained before and after immune checkpoint inhibitor therapy (January 2015 to January 2019). The study cohort consisted of 128 patients who were diagnosed with non-small cell lung cancer (n = 50), melanoma (n = 31), small cell lung cancer (n = 14), urothelial carcinoma (n = 13), and other cancers (n = 20). Patients with a high level (> 11.0 pg/μL) of sPD-L1 were more likely to exhibit progressive disease compared with those with a low level (41.8% versus 20.7%, p = 0.013). High sPD-L1 was also associated with worse prognosis; the median PFS was 2.9 (95% confidence interval [CI] 2.1-3.7) months versus 6.3 (95% CI 3.0-9.6) months (p = 0.023), and the median OS was 7.4 (95% CI 6.3-8.5) months versus 13.3 (95% CI 9.2-17.4) months (p = 0.005). In the multivariate analyses, high sPD-L1 was an independent prognostic factor for both decreased PFS (HR 1.928, p = 0.038) and OS (HR 1.788, p = 0.004). sPD-L1 levels did not correlate with tissue PD-L1 expression. However, sPD-L1 levels were positively correlated with neutrophil to lymphocyte ratios and negatively correlated with both the proportion and the total number of lymphocytes. We found that high pretreatment sPD-L1 levels were associated with progressive disease and were an independent prognostic factor predicting lower PFS and OS in these patients.

Indexed as

Biomarkers, TumorAdultAgedAged, 80 and overB7-H1 AntigenFemaleHumansImmune Checkpoint InhibitorsKaplan-Meier EstimateMaleMiddle AgedMolecular Targeted TherapyNeoplasm GradingNeoplasmsNeoplasm StagingPrognosisB7-H1 AntigenBiomarkers, TumorCD274 protein, humanImmune Checkpoint Inhibitors

Identifiers

PMID34611279
PMCPMC8492653
OpenAlexW3204182287

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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.