Abstract:
Objective To investigate the relationship between metabolic parameters of 18F-fluorodeoxyglucose positron emission computed tomography (18F-FDG PET/CT) and the expression of programmed death-ligand 1 (PD-L1) in patients with non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC).
Methods A total of 241 NSCLC patients who received preoperative 18F-FDG PET/CT were retrospectively enrolled in the present study at The First Affiliated Hospital of Soochow University from March 2019 to July 2021. In terms of the expression of PD-L1, patients were assigned into positive and negative groups, and high expression and low expression groups. A Chi-square test was used to analyze the difference between the two categorical variables, while a Mann–Whitney U test or t-test was used for the continuous variables. Multivariate analyses between the expression of PD-L1 and characteristics were analyzed by Logistic regression analysis.
Results In NSCLC, the SUVmax and TLG of the PD-L1 positive group were higher than those of the negative group (P<0.05). SUVmax, MTV, and TLG in the PD-L1 high expression group were higher than those in the low expression group (P<0.05). PD-L1 positive and high expression rates were higher in squamous carcinoma (SCC) than in adenocarcinoma (ADC). In ADC, the SUVmax of PD-L1 positive and high expression groups were higher than those of the negative and low expression groups, respectively (P<0.05). In SCC, there was no significant correlation between metabolic parameters and PD-L1 expression (P>0.05). Multivariate analysis revealed that SUVmax was an independent predictor of PD-L1 expression in NSCLC and ADC (P<0.05), as well as in ALK-negative ADC.
Conclusions The SUVmax of 18F-FDG PET/CT was a predictor of PD-L1 expression in ADC. It had important clinical value in immunotherapy.
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