Original article / research
Year : 2026 Month : October Volume : 15 Issue : 4 Page : PO01 - PO05 Full Version

PD-L1 Expression by Tumour Cells and Tumour Infiltrating Lymphocytes in Gastric Carcinoma and Its Association with Clinicopathological Parameters: A Cross-sectional Study
Karthika Priya, Divya Surendran, Aniya Antony
1. Senior Resident, Department of Pathology, Amala Institute of Medical Sciences, Thrissur, Kerala, India. 2. Professor, Department of Pathology, Amala Institute of Medical Sciences, Thrissur, Kerala, India. 3. Assistant Professor, Department of Pathology, Amala Institute of Medical Sciences, Thrissur, Kerala, India.
 
Correspondence Address :
Dr. Karthika Priya,
Senior Resident, Department of Pathology, Amala Institute of Medical Sciences,
SH69 Amalanagar, Thrissur-680555, Kerala, India.
E-mail: karthikap1996@gmail.com
 
ABSTRACT
: Introduction: According to the worldwide statistics on cancers, gastric carcinoma is in the fifth position. One of the most common risk factors is Helicobacter pylori. Hereditary factors also play a major role in the risk factors. Recently, the trend of using immunotherapy in a cancer treatment protocol has shown very promising results. Some types of cancer show an interaction between Programmed Death Ligand-1 (PD-L1) in cancer cells and Programmed Death-1 (PD-1) in T cells, which inhibits T cell function and thus aids the cancer cells to avoid entering the immune system.

Aim: To assess the expression of PD-L1 in tumour cells and tumour infiltrating lymphocytes in gastric carcinoma.

Materials and Methods: This was a hospital-based cross-sectional study conducted at the Department of Pathology, Amala Institute of Medical Sciences, Thrissur, Kerala, India, for a time period of 19 months from October 2022 to April 2024 among 33 gastric carcinoma cases, which included 20 gastric biopsies and 13 gastrectomy specimens. Histopathological and immunohistochemical results were recorded. Clinical details like age, gender and pathological details like gross appearance, histological type, depth of invasion, lymph node status, vascular invasion and TNM classification was studied, followed by PD-L1 immunohistochemistry and scored by Combined Positive Score (CPS) The data was entered into a Microsoft Excel worksheet and analysis was performed using Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) 23.0. Association between PD-L1 and clinicopathological parameters were analysed by Fisher’s-exact Test. Descriptive statistics were carried out. Significance was assessed at a 5% level.

Results: Three of the 33 patients had both tumour cells and tumour-infiltrating lymphocytes that tested positive for PD-L1, which was suggestive of difficulty in statistical correlation. Combined positive score for case 1 was 42%, case 2 was 20%, and case 3 was 63%. The clinicopathological characteristics and PD-L1 expression were compared. The following clinicopathological parameters were examined: gender (p-value=0.629), age (p-value=1.000), gross appearance (p-value=1.000), histological type (p-value=0.775), vascular invasion (p-value=0.423), depth of invasion/T stage (p-value=0.159), and node involvement/N stage (p-value= 0.408). There was no discernible correlation.

Conclusion: Three of the gastric cancer patients examined in the current investigation had PD-L1 expression, suggesting a low incidence of PD-L1 positive in our cohort. There was no discernible correlation found between PD-L1 expression and the assessed clinicopathological characteristics. However, the capacity to identify significant connections might have been limited by the small sample size. Therefore, in order to precisely ascertain the prevalence of PD-L1 expression and its correlation with clinicopathological characteristics in gastric cancer, larger investigations with a higher number of cases are needed. Additionally, PD-L1 testing may be crucial in determining which patients may benefit from immune checkpoint inhibitor therapy, underscoring its potential utility as a predictive biomarker and a guide for individualised treatment plans in gastric cancer.
Keywords : Biomarkers, B7-H1 Antigen, Lymphocyte, Immune checkpoint inhibitors, Stomach neoplasm, Tumour
DOI and Others : DOI: 10.7860/NJLM/2026/88660.2999 Date of Submission: Mar 02, 2026 Date of Peer Review: Apr 08, 2026 Date of Acceptance: Jun 25, 2026 Date of Publishing: Oct 01, 2026 AUTHOR DECLARATION: • Financial or Other Competing Interests: None • Was Ethics Committee Approval obtained for this study? Yes • Was informed consent obtained from the subjects involved in the study? Yes • For any images presented appropriate consent has been obtained from the subjects. NA PLAGIARISM CHECKING METHODS: • Plagiarism X-checker: Mar 27, 2026 • Manual Googling: Jun 18, 2026 • iThenticate Software: Jun 24, 2026 (4%) ETYMOLOGY: Author Origin EMENDATIONS: 7
 
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