%0 Journal Article
%T Prognostic value of immune checkpoint molecules in head and neck cancer: a meta-analysis
%A Bin Cheng
%A Bo Yang
%A Li-Ling Wen
%A Wen-Xin Mu
%A Yi-Qun Jia
%A Zhi Wang
%J Archive of "Aging (Albany NY)".
%D 2019
%R 10.18632/aging.101756
%X Immune checkpoint molecules are important targets in cancer immunotherapy, but their association with prognosis in patients with head and neck cancer is controversial. In this meta-analysis, we searched for 12 immune checkpoint molecules in the PubMed, Embase and Cochrane Library databases and retrieved 52 studies with 7127 participants. Among the molecules included in the search, indoleamine 2, 3-dioxygenase (IDO), programmed death ligand 1 (PD-L1), and programmed death 1 (PD-1) met the inclusion criteria for further analysis. Higher expression of IDO was associated with poorer overall survival in head and neck cancer patients (P = 0.011), but higher expression of PD-L1 correlated with better overall survival specifically in nasopharyngeal carcinoma patients (P = 0.01). In a sensitivity analysis, higher PD-L1 expression correlated with better progression-free survival (P = 0.043), and was associated with better overall survival in Caucasian subjects (P = 0.02), nasopharyngeal carcinoma patients (P = 0.015), and studies with small sample sizes (P = 0.001). PD-1 had no prognostic significance. There was no publication bias affecting the results. Thus, among the immune checkpoint molecules, IDO and PD-L1 are potential prognostic predictors in head and neck cancer
%K immune checkpoint molecule
%K prognosis
%K survival
%K head and neck cancer
%K meta-analysis
%U https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6366990/