Immune checkpoint inhibitors for blocking the programmed cell death protein 1 (PD-1)/programmed death-ligand 1 (PD-L1) axis are now available for squamous cell carcinoma of the head and neck (HNSCC) in relapsing and/or metastatic settings. In this work, we compared the resulting combined positive score (CPS) of PD-L1 using alternative methods adopted in routine clinical practice and determined the level of diagnostic agreement and inter-observer reliability in this setting. The study applied 5 different protocols on 40 tissue microarrays from HNSCC. The error rate of the individual protocols ranged from a minimum of 7% to a maximum of 21%, the sensitivity from 79% to 96%, and the specificity from 50% to 100%. In the intermediate group (1 ≤ CPS < 20), the majority of errors consisted of an underestimation of PD-L1 expression. In strong expressors, 5 out of 14 samples (36%) were correctly evaluated by all the protocols, but no protocol was able to correctly identify all the "strong expressors". The overall inter-observer agreement in PD-L1 CPS reached 87%. The inter-observer reliability was moderate, with an ICC of 0.774 (95% CI (0.651; 0.871)). In conclusion, our study showed moderate interobserver reliability among different protocols. In order to improve the performances, adequate specific training to evaluate PD-L1 by CPS in the HNSCC setting should be coordinated.

Crosta, S., Boldorini, R., Bono, F., Brambilla, V., Dainese, E., Fusco, N., et al. (2021). PD-L1 Testing and Squamous Cell Carcinoma of the Head and Neck: A Multicenter Study on the Diagnostic Reproducibility of Different Protocols. CANCERS, 13(2), 1-10 [10.3390/cancers13020292].

PD-L1 Testing and Squamous Cell Carcinoma of the Head and Neck: A Multicenter Study on the Diagnostic Reproducibility of Different Protocols

Bono, Francesca;Brambilla, Virginia;Gianatti, Andrea;L'Imperio, Vincenzo;Pagni, Fabio
2021

Abstract

Immune checkpoint inhibitors for blocking the programmed cell death protein 1 (PD-1)/programmed death-ligand 1 (PD-L1) axis are now available for squamous cell carcinoma of the head and neck (HNSCC) in relapsing and/or metastatic settings. In this work, we compared the resulting combined positive score (CPS) of PD-L1 using alternative methods adopted in routine clinical practice and determined the level of diagnostic agreement and inter-observer reliability in this setting. The study applied 5 different protocols on 40 tissue microarrays from HNSCC. The error rate of the individual protocols ranged from a minimum of 7% to a maximum of 21%, the sensitivity from 79% to 96%, and the specificity from 50% to 100%. In the intermediate group (1 ≤ CPS < 20), the majority of errors consisted of an underestimation of PD-L1 expression. In strong expressors, 5 out of 14 samples (36%) were correctly evaluated by all the protocols, but no protocol was able to correctly identify all the "strong expressors". The overall inter-observer agreement in PD-L1 CPS reached 87%. The inter-observer reliability was moderate, with an ICC of 0.774 (95% CI (0.651; 0.871)). In conclusion, our study showed moderate interobserver reliability among different protocols. In order to improve the performances, adequate specific training to evaluate PD-L1 by CPS in the HNSCC setting should be coordinated.
Articolo in rivista - Articolo scientifico
Head and neck carcinoma; HNSCC; PD-L1; Pembrolizumab;
English
14-gen-2021
2021
13
2
1
10
292
open
Crosta, S., Boldorini, R., Bono, F., Brambilla, V., Dainese, E., Fusco, N., et al. (2021). PD-L1 Testing and Squamous Cell Carcinoma of the Head and Neck: A Multicenter Study on the Diagnostic Reproducibility of Different Protocols. CANCERS, 13(2), 1-10 [10.3390/cancers13020292].
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