Effects of tumor-infiltrating CD8+ T cells, PD1/PD-L1 axis, and expression patterns of HLA class I on the prognosis of patients with malignant pleural mesothelioma who underwent extra-pleural pneumonectomy

Programmed cell death protein-1 (PD1), PD1 ligand 1 (PD-L1), and human leukocyte antigen (HLA) class I molecule play pivotal roles in T cell-induced anti-tumor immunity; however, the clinical impact of these parameters in resected malignant pleural mesothelioma (MPM) cases is unknown. We immunohistochemically evaluated the tumor infiltrated lymphocytes (TILs), PD1/PD-L1 axis, and expression of HLA class I in resected specimens from 58 patients with MPM who underwent extra-pleural pneumonectomy (EPP). Higher infiltration of CD3-TIL, CD8-TIL, and PD1-TIL, loss of HLA class I, and overexpression of PD-L1 by tumor cells (PD-L1 TC) or immune cells (PD-L1 IC) were observed in 34 (58.6%), 27 (46.6%), 41 (70.7%), 45 (77.6%), 29 (50.0%), and 33 (56.4%) of 58 cases, respectively. Interestingly, the CD3-TIL score positively correlated with PD-L1 TC and PD1-TIL scores. HLA class I expression level was inversely correlated with the expression levels of PD-L1 TC and PD-L1 IC. Multivariate analysis showed that age, histology, and node metastasis were independent prognostic factors for 5-year overall survival (OS) and loss of HLA class I coincided with a positive prognosis (p = 0.011). The concomitant lack of infiltrating CD8+ T cells with no loss of HLA class I predicted worse 5-year OS (p = 0.007). Moreover, cluster classifications among multiple immunoparameters showed that categories among CD3/PD-L1 TC/HLA class I (p = 0.043), CD8/PD1/HLA class I (p = 0.032), CD8/PD-L1 TC/HLA class I (p = 0.011), and PD1/PD-L1 TC/HLA class I (p = 0.032) predicted 5-year OS in EPP cases for MPM. These immunoparameters could guide surgical indications for patients with MPM.