ABSTRACT
Purpose@#The soluble form programmed death-ligand 1 (sPDL1) has immunosuppressive properties and is being studied as a candidate biomarker for immuno-oncology drug development. We measured the serum sPDL1 at pre-and post-chemotherapy and evaluated its prognostic implication and dynamics during chemotherapy in advanced gastric cancer (GC). @*Materials and Methods@#We prospectively enrolled 68 GC patients who were candidates for palliative standard first-line chemotherapy, and serially collected blood at baseline and after one cycle of chemotherapy, at the best response and after disease progression. sPDL1 was measured using an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. Response to chemotherapy, overall survival (OS), progressionfree survival (PFS) and other prognostic factors including neutrophil-lymphocyte ratio (NLR) were obtained. The cut-off value of sPDL1 levels for survival analysis was found using C-statistics. @*Results@#The median baseline sPDL1 was 0.8 ng/mL (range, 0.06 to 6.06 ng/mL). The median OS and PFS were 14.9 months and 8.0 months, respectively. sPDL1 and NLR showed a weak positive correlation (Spearman’s rho=0.301, p=0.013). Patients with low levels of sPDL1 at diagnosis (< 1.92 ng/mL) showed a better OS and PFS than patients with a high sPDL1. The baseline sPDL1 before treatment was higher in the progressive disease group than in the stable disease and partial response groups. Patients whose sPDL1 increased after the first cycle of chemotherapy showed worse PFS and OS. Following disease progression, sPDL1 increased compared with the baseline. @*Conclusion@#sPDL1 at prechemotherapy confers a prognostic value for PFS and OS in GC patients under palliative first-line chemotherapy. Dynamics of sPDL1 during chemotherapy correlates with disease progression.
ABSTRACT
PURPOSE: BRAF(V600E) mutation is the most common genetic alteration in papillary thyroid cancer (PTC) and has been associated with poor prognostic factors. The purpose of the present study is to investigate the frequency of the BRAF mutation in PTC with and without benign thyroid nodules (BN). METHODS: 98 DNA samples were extracted from frozen tissues of 51 PTC and 47 BN specimens of 70 patients and were divided into four group: PTC with BN, PTC alone, BN with PTC and BN alone group. We investigated the BRAF mutation by sequencing and clinicopathologic characteristics. RESULTS: Total positive rate of BRAF mutation was 23.5% in the two PTC groups. That rate of the PTC with BN group was 10.7% and the PTC alone group was 39.1%. Positive rate in the PTC with BN group was lesser than the PTC alone group and had statistically difference (P=0.02). The positive rate of BRAF mutation was 7.1% in the BN with PTC group and 5.3% in the BN alone group. Positive rate in these two group was not statistically different (P=0.80). CONCLUSION: The frequency of BRAF mutation in PTC with concurrent BN was lower than in PTC alone. This result suggests that the effect of BRAF mutation is lesser associated with PTCs with BN than PTC alone group.