Clinicopathological and prognostic value of tertiary lymphoid structures in lung cancer: a meta-analysis

The purpose of this meta-analysis was to examine the clinicopathological and prognostic significance of tertiary lymphocytic infiltrates in lung cancer.

A systematic search was performed in many databases, including PubMed, Web of Science, Cochrane Library, Embase, CNKI, Wangfangdate, and CBM, up until January 2024. We calculated the hazard ratio (HR), odds ratios (OR), and confidence interval (CI), and accomplished this meta-analysis with Stata 15 software.

14 studies, including 3101 patients, were subjected to analysis. High TLS detection was associated with a longer OS (HR = 0.545, 95% CI: 0.359–0.827, p = 0.004), DFS (HR = 0.431, 95% CI: 0.350–0.531, p < 0.001), and RFS (HR = 0.430, 95% CI: 0.325–0.569, p < 0.001). Meanwhile, it was observed that a higher detection of TLS was significantly correlated with the administration of adjuvant chemotherapy (OR = 1.505, 95% CI: 1.017–2.225, p = 0.041). Not only that, but there was a higher occurrence of significantly elevated TLS detection in the early N stages (N = 0) compared to the advanced N stages (N = 1, 2, and 3) (OR = 1.604, 95% CI: 1.021–2.521, p = 0.04).

Elevated detection of TLS has been observed to be correlated with extended OS, DFS, and RFS in cases of lung cancer. This finding suggests that TLS could potentially serve as a valuable prognostic biomarker for lung cancer.