VISTA expression is associated with a favorable prognosis in patients with high-grade serous ovarian cancer

Blockading programmed death ligand 1 (PD-L1) shows promising results in patients with some cancers, but not in those with ovarian cancer. V-domain Ig suppressor of T cell activation (VISTA) is a recently discovered immune checkpoint protein that suppresses T cell activation. This study aimed to investigate the expression and clinical significance of VISTA in ovarian cancer as well as its relationship with PD-L1. VISTA and PD-L1 levels in 146 ovarian cancer samples were assessed using immunohistochemistry. We investigated the association between VISTA and other clinicopathological variables, including survival. The associations between the VISTA-encoding C10orf54 gene, other immune checkpoints, and survival were analyzed. VISTA was detected in 51.4% of all samples and 46.6% of PD-L1-negative samples; it was expressed in 28.8%, 35.6%, and 4.1% of tumor cells (TCs), immune cells (ICs), and endothelial cells, respectively. Furthermore, VISTA expression was associated with pathologic type and PD-L1 expression. Moreover, VISTA expression in TCs, but not in ICs, was associated with prolonged progression-free and overall survival in patients with high-grade serous ovarian cancer. The expression of C10orf54 mRNA was associated with prolonged overall survival and immune escape-modulating genes. These results showed that VISTA expression in ovarian tumor cells was associated with a favorable prognosis in patients with high-grade serous ovarian cancer; however, additional studies are required to better understand the expression and role of VISTA in ovarian cancer. ELECTRONIC SUPPLEMENTARY MATERIAL: The online version of this article (10.1007/s00262-019-02434-5) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.