{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,10,5]],"date-time":"2026-10-05T20:16:59Z","timestamp":1791231419714,"version":"4.1.0"},"reference-count":13,"publisher":"BMJ","issue":"2","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2020,11,25]],"date-time":"2020-11-25T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1606262400000},"content-version":"unspecified","delay-in-days":24,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"funder":[{"DOI":"10.13039\/100009634","name":"Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","award":["SAC160076"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["SAC160076"]}],"id":[{"id":"10.13039\/100009634","id-type":"DOI","asserted-by":"crossref"}]},{"DOI":"10.13039\/100001006","name":"Breast Cancer Research Foundation","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","id":[{"id":"10.13039\/100001006","id-type":"DOI","asserted-by":"publisher"}]}],"content-domain":{"domain":["bmj.com"],"crossmark-restriction":true},"short-container-title":["J Immunother Cancer"],"accepted":{"date-parts":[[2020,10,27]]},"published-print":{"date-parts":[[2020,11]]},"abstract":"<jats:p>Programmed Death Ligand 1 (PD-L1) positivity rates differ between different metastatic sites and the primary tumor. Understanding PD-L1 expression characteristics could guide biopsy procedures and motivate research to better understand site-specific differences in the tumor microenvironment. The purpose of this study was to compare PD-L1 positivity on immune cells and tumor cells in primary and metastatic triple negative breast cancer (TNBC) tumors. Retrospective study utilizing the PD-L1 database of Foundation Medicine containing the SP142 companion diagnostic immunohistochemistry assay (SP142 CDx) and Food and Drug Administration guidelines for scoring. 340 TNBC cases (179 primary tumors and 161 unmatched metastatic lesions) were evaluated. The primary outcome measures were PD-L1 positivity rates in immune cells and tumor cells. \u03c7<jats:sup>2<\/jats:sup> test was used for comparisons. Spearman\u2019s correlation coefficient was used for correlations. More primary tumors were positive for PD-L1 expression on immune cells than metastatic lesions (114 (63.7%) vs 68 (42.2%), p&lt;0.0001). This was driven by the lower PD-L1 positivity rates in skin (23.8%, 95%\u2009CI: 8.22% to 47.2%), liver (17.4%, 95%\u2009CI: 5.00% to 38.8%) and bone (16.7%, 95%\u2009CI: 2.10% to 48.4%) metastases. Lung (68.8%, 95%\u2009CI: 41.3% to 90.0%), soft tissues (65.2%, 95%\u2009CI: 42.7% to 83.6%) and lymph nodes (51.1%, 95%\u2009CI: 35.8% to 66.3%) had PD-L1 % positivity rates similar to primary tumors. PD-L1 expression was rare on tumor cells in both the breast and metastatic sites (8.3% vs 4.3%, p=0.13). The rate of PD-L1 positivity varies by metastatic location with substantially lower positivity rates in liver, skin and bone metastases compared with primary breast lesions or lung, soft tissue or lymph node metastases. This difference in PD-L1 positivity rates between primary tumors and different metastatic sites should inform physicians when choosing sites to biopsy and suggests a difference in the immune microenvironment across metastatic sites.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.1136\/jitc-2020-001558","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2020,11,25]],"date-time":"2020-11-25T15:51:13Z","timestamp":1606319473000},"page":"e001558","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1136\/crossmarkpolicy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":115,"title":["Comparison of PD-L1 protein expression between primary tumors and metastatic lesions in triple negative breast cancers"],"prefix":"10.1136","volume":"8","author":[{"given":"Mariya","family":"Rozenblit","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Medical Oncology, Yale University School of Medicine, New Haven, Connecticut, USA"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Richard","family":"Huang","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"R&D, Foundation Medicine Inc, Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Natalie","family":"Danziger","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"R&D, Foundation Medicine Inc, Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Priti","family":"Hegde","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"R&D, Foundation Medicine Inc, Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Brian","family":"Alexander","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"R&D, Foundation Medicine Inc, Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Shakti","family":"Ramkissoon","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"R&D, Foundation Medicine Inc, Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA"},{"name":"Department of Pathology and Comprehensive Cancer Center, Wake Forest School of Medicine, Winston-Salem, North Carolina, USA"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0001-6070-0728","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Kim","family":"Blenman","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Medical Oncology, Yale University School of Medicine, New Haven, Connecticut, USA"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Jeffrey S","family":"Ross","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"R&D, Foundation Medicine Inc, Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA"},{"name":"Pathology and Urology, Upstate Medical University, Syracuse, New York, USA"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0001-5820-4397","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"David L","family":"Rimm","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Medical Oncology, Yale University School of Medicine, New Haven, Connecticut, USA"},{"name":"Department of Pathology, Yale University School of Medicine, New Haven, Connecticut, USA"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Lajos","family":"Pusztai","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Medical Oncology, Yale University School of Medicine, New Haven, Connecticut, USA"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"239","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2020,11,25]]},"reference":[{"key":"2025100302282384000_8.2.e001558.1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1056\/nejmoa1809615"},{"key":"2025100302282384000_8.2.e001558.2","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"v858","DOI":"10.1093\/annonc\/mdz394.009","article-title":"Performance of PD-L1 immunohistochemistry (IHC) assays in unresectable locally advanced or metastatic triple-negative breast cancer (mTNBC): Post-hoc analysis of 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