Prognostic Value of PD-L1 and Siglec-15 Expression in Patients with Nasopharyngeal Carcinoma

Abstract

Purpose: Sialic acid-binding immunoglobulin-like lectin 15 (Siglec-15) might be involved in the activation of important pathways related to tumor immune escape, along with programmed death-ligand 1 (PD-L1). We aimed to investigate the correlation between the expression of Siglec-15 and PD-L1 in NPC patients.Patients and methods: We determined the expression of PD-L1 via immunohistochemical staining and that of Siglec-15 via immunofluorescent staining in 182 NPC tissue samples.Results: A significant correlation was identified between the PD-L1 and Siglec-15 expression (P=0.000). Moreover, Kaplan–Meier survival curves showed that PD-L1 expression were associated with improved overall survival (P=0.025) and Siglec-15 expression were associated with improved distant failure-free survival (P=0.048). Meanwhile, multivariate Cox analysis showed that PD-L1 and Siglec-15 were independent predictors of overall survival (P=0.020) and distant failure-free survival (P=0.047), respectively. The results of the log-rank test and Cox regression analyses showed that patients exhibiting no PD-L1/Siglec-15 expression were found to have significant advantages with regard to overall survival, compared to other groups (P=0.037).Conclusion: PD-L1 and Siglec-15 may represent novel biomarkers for predicting NPC patient prognosis. Siglec-15 could be considered as a potential target for the development of therapeutics for NPC treatment in the future.

Significance of Siglec‐15 expression in colorectal cancer: association with advanced disease stage and fewer tumor‐infiltrating lymphocytes

“…Recently, several studies have demonstrated Siglec‐15 overexpression in pancreatic ductal, lung, gastric, nasopharyngeal, breast, and bladder cancers [14–19]. Moreover, Siglec‐15 expression is associated with prognosis and immunosuppression [14,17,20]. All these findings indicate that Siglec‐15 may be a new and promising target for cancer immunotherapy.…”

“…Importantly, the phase I study of NC318 (NCT03665285) has demonstrated promising efficacy in lung cancer patients treated with Siglec-15 inhibitors. Recently, several studies have demonstrated Siglec-15 overexpression in pancreatic ductal, lung, gastric, nasopharyngeal, breast, and bladder cancers [14][15][16][17][18][19]. Moreover, Siglec-15 expression is associated with prognosis and immunosuppression [14,17,20].…”