Background: The aim of the study is to investigate whether programmed death ligand l (PD-L1) on tumor cells has prognostic significance in patients with hepatocellular carcinoma.
Methods: A cohort of 143 patients with hepatocellular carcinoma was enrolled. PD-L1 expression was detected by immunohistochemistry. The association of PD-L1 expression with clinical characteristics and survival was analyzed.
Results: PD-L1 positive rate in our study was 13.3% (19/143). None of clinical characteristics, including gender, age, virus infection, AFP, vascular invasion, tumor size, and number, was significantly associated with PD-L1 expression (p > 0.05). PD-L1 expression was significantly associated with cirrhosis (p = 0.016). PD-L1 expression was not significantly associated with survival (Log-rank p = 0.076; HR: 0.363 p = 0.091).
Conclusions: PD-L1 expression failed to have a markedly significant prognostic association with survival in patients with hepatocellular carcinoma.