Correlation between estrogen receptor and programmed death ligand-1 in type I endometrial cancer

Setyo Teguh Waluyo; Brahmana Askandar Tjokroprawiro; Anny Setijo Rahaju

doi:10.1016/j.eurox.2024.100293

Correlation between estrogen receptor and programmed death ligand-1 in type I endometrial cancer

Eur J Obstet Gynecol Reprod Biol X. 2024 Feb 20:21:100293. doi: 10.1016/j.eurox.2024.100293. eCollection 2024 Mar.

Authors

Setyo Teguh Waluyo¹, Brahmana Askandar Tjokroprawiro², Anny Setijo Rahaju³

Affiliations

¹ Subspecialist Education Program, Division of Gynecologic Oncology, Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Dr. Soetomo General Academic Hospital, Medical Faculty -Universitas Airlangga, Surabaya, Indonesia.
² Division of Gynecologic Oncology, Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Faculty of Medicine, Universitas Airlangga/Dr.Soetomo General Academic Hospital, Surabaya, Indonesia.
³ Department of Anatomical Pathology, Faculty of Medicine, Universitas Airlangga/Dr.Soetomo General Academic Hospital/ Universitas Airlangga Hospital, Surabaya, Indonesia.

Abstract

Objective: To determine the effect of estrogen receptor (ER) on programmed death-ligand 1 (PD-L1) expression in type I endometrial cancer (EC).

Material and methods: This retrospective study included 85 patients with type I EC who underwent surgery at Dr. Soetomo Hospital between 2018 and 2022. A random sampling technique was employed. Immunohistochemistry (IHC) with ER and PD-L1 antibodies was performed on all samples. In this study, ER expression served as the independent variable, while PD-L1 expression was considered the dependent variable. Data analysis was performed using Spearman's rank correlation coefficient test.

Results: Out of the 85 patients with type I EC, 58 (68.2%) exhibited positive and 27 (31.8%) exhibited negative ER expression. Meanwhile positive PD-L1 expression was seen in 67 (78.8%) and 18 (21.2%) exhibited negative PD-L1 expression. The study revealed a strong negative correlation between ER and PD-L1 expression in EC (rho value = -0.886, p-value = 0.0001).

Conclusion: ER downregulates PD-L1 in type I EC. The findings of this study can be used as reference data and as the basis for further research, especially investigations of the prognostic and immunotherapeutic value of ER and PD-L1 expression in type I EC.

Keywords: Endometrial cancer, programmed death ligand-1; Estrogen receptor.