PD-L1 instead of PD-1 status is associated with the clinical features in human primary prostate tumors

Immunotherapy targeting programmed cell death protein 1 (PD-1)/programmed cell death-ligand 1 (PD-L1) has shown efficacy in a variety of solid tumors. However, prostate cancer has often been a non-responder to anti-PD-1/PD-L1 therapies. The objective of this study was to determine PD-1 and PD-L1 expression status and its correlation with clinical features of the patients. A total of 279 patients who underwent radical prostatectomy for prostate cancer were included in this study. PD-1 and PD-L1 expression in primary prostate tumors was detected using immunohistochemical staining. Analyses were made between PD-1/PD-L1 status and patients' age, ethnicity, body mass index (BMI), diabetes mellitus, tumor stage, lymph node metastasis, prostate-specific antigen (PSA), Gleason score, grade group, and survival. We found that 6.5 (standard deviation 14.3; range 0-161.6) tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes per high power field were positive for PD-1 staining and 50/279 (17.9%) tumors were positive for PD-L1 staining. PD-L1-positive tumors had significantly more PD-1-positive lymphocytes than PD-L1-negative tumors. The number of PD-1-positive lymphocytes was not correlated with any clinical features except that patients with diabetes had significantly less PD-1-positive lymphocytes than patients without diabetes. In contrast, more PD-L1-positive tumors were found in older patients (≥ 65 years), obese patients (BMI ≥ 30), and patients with advanced tumor stage, lymph node metastasis, and high Gleason score. Neither PD-1 nor PD-L1 status was correlated with ethnicity, PSA, or survival. Our findings suggest that PD-L1 instead of PD-1 status is associated with the clinical features in human primary prostate tumors.