The prognostic significance of PD-L1 expression in patients with glioblastoma: A meta-analysis

Background: Glioblastoma (GBM) is a malignant brain tumor associated with high morbidity and mortality rates with a poor prognosis. In recent years, studies on prognostic markers such as programmed death ligand 1 (PD-L1) have increased; however, their conclusions remain controversial. Here, relevant literature was reviewed and a meta-analysis was performed to clarify the correlation between PD-L1 expression and overall survival (OS) in GBM. Methods: The non-foundational literature on PD-L1 expression associated with OS in GBM up to February 2022 was searched in the PubMed, Metstr, Cochrane, and Web of Science databases. Literature was rigorously screened according to inclusion and exclusion criteria, the total hazard ratio (HR), and corresponding 95% confidence intervals (CIs). Results: Calculating the combined HR value and corresponding 95% CI of HR=1.124 (95% CI: 1.047-1.201, P=0.000, I2 (I-squared)=48.8%), it was shown that PD-L1 expression was significantly associated with low OS in GBM patients. Although I2 = 48.8% < 50%, to make the results more credible, in the cutoff values >= 10% subgroup HR=1.37 (95% CI: 1.07-1.67, P=0.000, I2 = 0%), which was also the result found in the first meta-analysis. In contrast, in the cutoff value >= 5% subgroup HR=1.14 (95% CI: 0.98-1.30, P=0.000, I2 = 59.8%) and in the cutoff value median PD-L1 expression levels subgroup HR=1.05 (95% CI: 0.92-1.18, P=0.000, I2 = 0%), indicating that PD-L1 expression was not associated with low OS in GBM. Furthermore, in four studies, we found no significant correlation between PD-L1 expression and the progression-free survival of GBM (HR=1.14, 95% CI:0.40-1.88, P=0.03, I2 = 29.3%). Conclusion: PD-L1 expression was significantly associated with low OS in GBM patients; however, this result needs to be interpreted with caution and requires a large, multicenter clinical study in patients with similar baseline data for further evaluation.

Automated summary

PD-L1 expression is significantly associated with low overall survival (OS) in patients with glioblastoma (GBM). However, this result needs to be interpreted with caution and further evaluated in large, multicenter clinical studies with similar baseline data.