| Objective To analyze the relationship between changes of sCD27 during immune checkpoint inhibitor (ICIs) treatment and the survival rate of patients with hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). Methods 72 HCC patients treated with ICIs in our hospital from October 2017 to March 2022 were retrospectively evaluated. Soluble programmed cell death protein 1 (sPD-1), sCD27, and soluble programmed cell death ligand 1 (sPD-L1) were detected by multi-bead immunoassays at the beginning of immunotherapy (baseline) and 6 weeks after immunotherapy. The Δ-change was calculated as a percentage change from baseline, and patients were followed for overall survival (OS), time to progression (TTP), and progression-free survival (PFS). Results Univariate and multivariate COX regression analysis showed that Δ-sCD27 was an independent predictor of OS, and the area under the subject work characteristic curve for Δ-sCD27 to predict death in HCC patients was 0.851 (95% confidence interval: 0.754~0.947), the sensitivity and specificity of the optimal cut-off value (+2.63%) were 88.6% and 75.0%, respectively. More HCC patients with DelTA-SCD27 ≥+2.63% had stage C/D BCLC. In addition, univariate and multivariate COX regression analyses showed that Δ-sCD27 was associated with PFS and TTP in HCC patients. Kaplan-Meier mapping analysis showed that Δ-sCD27≥+2.63% of HCC patients had OS (Log Rank 2=14.499, P < 0.001), PFS (Log Rank 2=7.274, P=0.007) and TTP (Log Rank 2=8.605, P=0.003) are shorter. Conclusion Δ-sCD27≥+2.63% May indicate that the survival prognosis of advanced HCC patients after ICIs treatment is poor, and the efficacy of ICIs treatment can be evaluated by monitoring plasma sCD27 level. |
