EBUS-TNBA 22G samples: Comparison of PD-L1 expression between DAKO and BIOCARE(®)

Introduction: Lung cancer is diagnosed at advanced stage due to lack of early disease symptoms. Currently we have several different biopsy techniques such as; radial endobronchial ultrasound, convex probe endobronchial ultrasound, electromagnetic navigation, ct guided biospy and transthoracic ultrasound biopsy. Novel therapies such as; immunotherapy is being used for non-small cell lung cancer in the everyday clinical practice as first and second line treatment. Programmed ligand-1 is essential in order to administer immunotherapy as first line treatment. Patients and Methods: Two thousands and two patients were included in our study where programmed ligand 1 was evaluated with DAKO technique and BIOCARE(®). Cell blocks were obtain with convex probe ebus-tbna 22G needle. Results: The Deming regression between DAKO and BIOCARE clone revealed an amazingly strong linear relationship as the coefficient of determination indicated (R(2)=0.999) and the variance ratio close to 1 (0.978), proving that both techniques can equally well be substituted for each other. The regression coefficient equals to 1 and the intercept hardly differs from 0 (0.936). In practice, this relationship permits adopting the economically affordable BIOCARE clone for further medical considerations. Conclusion: No statistical difference was observed between DAKO and BIOCARE(®), therefore we propose that both techniques can be used in order to investigate the expression of programmed ligand 1 with safety. PD-L1 expression was higher in the central mass instead of the lymphnodes.