The neoadjuvant chemoradiotherapy with following total mesorectal excision is a current standard of the treatment of locally advanced rectal adenocarcinoma. In addition to traditional prognostic factors (as clinical stage, surgery radicality, etc.), new biomarkers are also being sought with the aim to optimize the treatment of this malignancy.
One of these biomarkers is detection of PD-L1 on the tumor cell surface. The aim of this paper is to determinate the prognostic influence of PD-L1 expression changes in patients with locally advanced rectal cancer treated by neoadjuvant chemoradiotherapy.
The combination of PD-1/PD-L1 inhibitors has not gained an acceptance as a new standard of treatment of these malignancies.