Aydın AH, Turhan N. Comparison of mismatch repair and immune checkpoint protein profile with histopathological parameters in pancreatic, periampullary/ampullary, and choledochal adenocarcinomas. World J Gastrointest Oncol 2024; 16(3): 875-882 [PMID: 38577456 DOI: 10.4251/wjgo.v16.i3.875]
Corresponding Author of This Article
Arzu Hazal Aydın, MD, Doctor, Department of Pathology, Aksaray University Aksaray Training and Research Hospital, Sifahane District, No. 3152 Street, Aksaray 68200, Turkey. arzu.hazal.aydin@gmail.com
Research Domain of This Article
Gastroenterology & Hepatology
Article-Type of This Article
Retrospective Study
Open-Access Policy of This Article
This article is an open-access article which was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/
World J Gastrointest Oncol. Mar 15, 2024; 16(3): 875-882 Published online Mar 15, 2024. doi: 10.4251/wjgo.v16.i3.875
Comparison of mismatch repair and immune checkpoint protein profile with histopathological parameters in pancreatic, periampullary/ampullary, and choledochal adenocarcinomas
Arzu Hazal Aydın, Nesrin Turhan
Arzu Hazal Aydın, Department of Pathology, Aksaray University Aksaray Training and Research Hospital, Aksaray 68200, Turkey
Nesrin Turhan, Department of Pathology, University of Health Sciences Ankara City Hospital, Ankara 06800, Turkey
Author contributions: Aydın AH and Turhan N participated in the design, execution, and analysis of the article and approved the final version.
Institutional review board statement: Prior to the study, approval was obtained from T.C. Health Sciences University Ankara City Hospital Ethics Committee (Numbered E2-2021-601; Dated 16/06/2021).
Informed consent statement: Since the study was retrospectively designed, informed consent was not obtained from the patients.
Conflict-of-interest statement: The authors have no conflicts of interest to declare.
Data sharing statement: No additional data are available.
Open-Access: This article is an open-access article that was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution NonCommercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: https://creativecommons.org/Licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Corresponding author: Arzu Hazal Aydın, MD, Doctor, Department of Pathology, Aksaray University Aksaray Training and Research Hospital, Sifahane District, No. 3152 Street, Aksaray 68200, Turkey. arzu.hazal.aydin@gmail.com
Received: November 3, 2023 Peer-review started: November 3, 2023 First decision: December 1, 2023 Revised: December 12, 2023 Accepted: January 10, 2024 Article in press: January 10, 2024 Published online: March 15, 2024 Processing time: 129 Days and 20.4 Hours
ARTICLE HIGHLIGHTS
Research background
Despite advanced techniques in surgical methods and chemotherapy protocols, pancreatic, periampullary/ampullary, and choledochal adenocarcinomas still have high mortality rates. Thus, targeted therapies are needed.
Research motivation
Immunotherapy has opened a new era in cancer treatment. Despite the positive results obtained in treatment, it is necessary to investigate the patient group that does not respond to treatment, and clarify mechanisms and molecules involved in the resistance to immunotherapy. H long terminal repeat-associating 2 (HHLA2) is a novel immune checkpoint molecule. Therefore, the evaluation of HHLA2 expression may be useful in predicting the response to immunotherapy.
Research objectives
To evaluate the relationship of HHLA2 expression with other immunophenotypic markers.
Research methods
The expression of DNA mismatch repair, programmed death-ligand 1, and HHLA2 proteins was examined by immunohistochemistry. All tumor slides stained with hematoxylin and eosin were screened to evaluate other immunophenotypic features such as intraepithelial tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes.
Research results
Low HHLA2 expression was associated with high perineural invasion (PNI). HHLA2 expression was low in pathological stage T3 cases and high in pathological stage T1, T2, and T4 cases. Patients with high HHLA2 expression had a higher mean age than those with low expression.
Research conclusions
We found that HHLA2 expression was correlated with age, pathological stage and the presence of PNI irrespective of other immunophenotypic features. Thus, HHLA2 may be a useful biomarker for predicting the response to immunotherapy.
Research perspectives
In light of our findings, which will be supported by larger case studies, HHLA2 may serve as a novel therapeutic target for immunotherapy in advanced-stage cancer.
