Prognostic significance of PD-L1 expression in patients with gastric cancer in East Asia: a meta-analysis

The overexpression of programmed cell death-ligand 1(PD-L1) has been observed in gastric cancer (GC). However, whether the expression of PD-L1 in tumor cells or blood serum is associated with the prognosis of patients with GC remains unclear. Therefore, we performed a meta-analysis to evaluate the prognostic significance of PD-L1 expression in GC. Electronic databases were searched systematically. Studies that met the inclusion criteria were included in the meta-analysis. Data concerning the hazard ratio (HR) for overall survival and disease-free survival with a 95% confidence interval (CI) according to the expression status of PD-L1 evaluated by immunohistochemistry or enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay were extracted. The data were analyzed using a random effects model. Subgroup analyses were proposed. Our results showed that eight studies with 950 patients met the inclusion criteria and were included in the meta-analysis. The pooled HR for overall survival indicated that patients with PD-L1-positive expression had significantly shorter survival time compared with the PD-L1-negative group (HR 1.60, 95% CI 1.09–2.36, P=0.012). The pooled HR for disease-free survival demonstrated that the difference between the two groups was not statistically significant (HR 1.02, 95% CI 0.32–3.20, P=0.98). In conclusion, our results indicate that the evaluation of PD-L1 overexpression in GC tissue or blood serum may be useful in the future as a novel prognostic factor.