Positive correlation between programmed death ligand-1 and p53 in triple-negative breast cancer

Yan Zeng1, Cheng-Long Wang2, Jie Xian1, Qian Ye3, Xue Qin1, Yi-Wen Tan1, You-De Cao1 1Department of Pathology, College of Basic Medicine, Chongqing Medical University, Chongqing, People’s Republic of China; 2Department of Pathology, Chongqing Hospital of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Chongqing, People’s Republic of China; 3Key Laboratory of Molecular Biology for Infectious Diseases (Ministry of Education), Chongqing Medical University, Chongqing, People’s Republic of ChinaCorrespondence: You-De CaoDepartment of Pathology, College of Basic Medicine, Chongqing Medical University, No. 1 Yixueyuan Road, Yuzhong District, Chongqing 400016, People’s Republic of ChinaTel +86 236 848 5789Email 420306100@qq.comPurpose: Tumors with high mutation load tend to have a stronger immune response in some tumors. The correlation between expression of programmed death ligand-1 (PD-L1), a biomarker of immune response in tumors, and p53, accepted as the most frequently mutated gene in many cancers, in triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC) has not been fully investigated in cancer patients.Materials and methods: 132 cases of TNBC and 32 cases of non-TNBC paraffin-embedded tissue sections were selected to detect the expression of PD-L1 and p53 by immunohistochemistry, and results were correlated with clinical data and survival outcomes. The staining of PD-L1 in tumor cells (TCs) and tumor-associated immune cells (TAICs) was assessed separately.Results: Strong positive correlations were observed between expression of p53 and PD-L1 both in TCs (r=0.338, P=0.000) and TAICs (r=0.186, P=0.033). The same positive correlation was found in the expression of PD-L1 in TCs and TAICs (r=0.764, P=0.000). Like p53 (P=0.024), positive rate of PD-L1 in TCs was significantly higher in TNBC than in non-TNBC (P=0.02). PD-L1 and p53 in TCs staining were significantly associated with histological grade, tumor size and Ki67 index (P<0.05). PD-L1 in TCs staining was