Expression of chemerin and B7 family proteins in lung adenocarcinoma — pilot study

Introduction: Lung cancer is the most commonly diagnosed cancer with 2.2 million cases in 2020 and causes 1.8 million deaths. Early lung cancer often has no symptoms and can only be detected by medical imaging. When symptoms do appear, they are often respiratory problems —coughing, breathlessness or chest pain — and systemic problems — loss of appetite, weight loss, general weakness, fever and night sweats. There are two main types of lung cancer: small cell lung cancer (SCLC; 15% of cases) and non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC; 85% of cases). Material and methods: This study included evaluation of CMKLR1, PD-1, B7H3, B7H4 and HHLA2 expression, along with CD8 + T-cell population, TILs and budding in H + E stained slides using IHC. Although there was no clear association between the analysed expressions and the T parameter, this study, which included 22 archived lung adenocarcinoma cases from patients undergoing radical lobectomy, revealed significant negative correlations between HHLA2 expression and tumour grade, as well as between CMKLR1 expression and tumour grade. Results: Furthermore, CMKLR1 expression among lymphocytes showed a positive correlation with TILs.