Prognostic role of PD-L1 for HCC patients after potentially curative resection: a meta-analysis

BACKGROUND: A series of studies has investigated the prognostic role and clinical significance of programmed death ligand 1 (PD-L1) in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). However, the results were inconsistent. We aimed to clarify the prognostic role of PD-L1 and relationship between PD-L1 expression and several important clinicopathological features. METHODS: PubMed, EMBASE and the Science Citation Index Expanded were systematically searched. All cohort or case–control studies comparing the prognosis and clinical features between the high PD-L1 and low PD-L1 groups were included. Publication bias was evaluated using funnel plots and Begg’s test. Subgroup analysis, sensitivity analysis and meta-regression analysis were performed. RESULTS: Seventeen studies including 2979 patients were eligible. The overall survival (OS) was not significantly different between the high and low PD-L1 groups (hazard ratio [HR]: 1.27; 95% confidence interval [CI] 0.98–1.65: P = 0.07) with significant heterogeneity (P < 0.001; I(2) = 81%). The recurrence-free survival (RFS) was not significantly different between the high and low PD-L1 groups (HR: 1.22; 95% CI 0.97–1.53; P = 0.09) with significant heterogeneity (P < 0.001; I(2) = 78%). The expression of PD-L1 was found to be significantly correlated with alpha-fetoprotein, hepatitis history, and tumour-infiltrating lymphocytes. Begg’s test found no significant publication bias for OS and RFS. Sensitivity analysis established the robustness of our results. Subgroup analysis and meta-regression analysis found the region of research as a significant contributor to inter-study heterogeneity in RFS, indicating some racial differences in the prognostic role of PD-L1. CONCLUSIONS: Our study found no significant prognostic role of PD-L1 in HCC patients after potential curative hepatectomy based on our included studies. The expression of PD-L1 was significantly correlated with AFP, hepatitis history, and TILs. The prognostic role of PD-L1 in HCC warrants further investigation. ELECTRONIC SUPPLEMENTARY MATERIAL: The online version of this article (10.1186/s12935-019-0738-9) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.