Correlation analysis of CD38 expression level and efficacy of PD-1 inhibitors in advanced HCC

Abstract

Abstract: Objective To explore the correlation between CD38 expression level and the efficacy of PD-1 inhibitor in patients with advanced hepatic cellular cancer (HCC). Methods 60 patients with advanced liver cancer treated with PD-1 inhibitor from 1 January 2019 to 31 December 2020 were selected as the study subjects and clinical information was collected. The tumor tissues of advanced liver cancer patients were selected by liver puncture, and the adjacent normal tissues of HCC cancer treated surgery our hospital at the same time were selected as the control. The relationship of CD38 expression and the prognosis of HCC patients was analyzed by bioinformatics analysis; Follow-up observations of HCC patients treated with PD-1 inhibitors compared the relationship between CD38 expression levels and patient prognosis; Risk factors were selected to influence the outcome of patients with advanced HCC. Results The KM-plotter database showed that in the HCC(HR=0.73,95%CI:0.54~0.98,P=0.036) and advanced HCC(HR=0.51,95%CI:0.26~1.00,P=0.045) samples, higher CD38 expression and longer PFS; CD38 expression was significantly lower in advanced HCC patients than in adjacent normal tissue(χ²=10.126,P=0.006); Patients with high CD38 expression performed better results with PD-1 inhibitors than those with low CD38 expression (χ²=5.833,P=0.016), and some correlation between CD38 expression and the effect of PD-1 inhibitors (Spearman r=-0.404, P<0.001); Patients with high CD38 expression had longer overall survival (OS, 24.19±3.89 vs 29.56±3.35weeks) and progression-free survival (PFS, 14.32±2.13 vs 17.52±3.02weeks) (P<0.05) than patients with low CD38 expression; BCLC stage, Child-Pugh grade, and CD38 expression may be associated with patient PFS (P<0.05).Conclusion CD38 expression was low in advanced HCC patients, CD38 expression was associated with the therapeutic effect of patient PD-1 inhibitor, and high expression of CD38 predicted a better effect of patient PD-1 inhibitor.

Key words: Advanced hepatic cellular cacner, Immune microenvironment, CD38, Immunotherapy, PD-1 inhibitor

WANG Lu, SUN Xiao-hu, BAI Jing-hui, YU Hong. Correlation analysis of CD38 expression level and efficacy of PD-1 inhibitors in advanced HCC[J]. Chinese Hepatolgy, 2023, 28(1): 75-78.

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