Tumor-Infiltrating Immune Cells and PD-L1 as Prognostic Biomarkers in Primary Esophageal Small Cell Carcinoma

Table 1

Associations between PD-L1, clinicopathological characteristics, and other immune cells in PESCC.

Characteristic	PD-L1 negative	PD-L1 positive	^a value
	No. of patients	No. of patients
Sex			0.179
Male	38	23
Female	16	4
Age			0.465
≤60	22	8
>60	32	19
Location			0.681
Upper third	4	3
Middle and lower thirds	50	24
^bT classification			0.811
T1-T2	21	12
T3-T4	33	15
^bN classification			0.220
N0	16	12
N1	38	15
^bM classification			0.742
M0	45	24
M1	9	3
^bStage			0.472
I-II	20	13
III-IV	34	14
Necrosis			0.865
No	37	19
Yes	17	8
First treatment			0.518
Surgery	29	16
Chemoradiotherapy	5	4
Chemotherapy	20	7
^cTIIs			<0.001
Poor	38	7
Rich	16	20
CD4			0.023
Poor	41	13
Rich	13	14
CD8			0.002
Poor	45	13
Rich	9	14
CD163			<0.001
Poor	44	11
Rich	10	16

^aFisher’s test; ^bTNM stage: the AJCC (8th edition) was used; ^cTIIs: tumor-infiltrating immune cells.