Potential new therapeutic target in pleural mesothelioma

Reference: April 2025 | Issue 4 | Vol 11 | Page 43

New findings from the European Thoracic Oncology Platform (ETOP) Mesoscape project suggest the immunoregulatory protein CD276 (B7-H3) holds potential as a therapeutic target in pleural mesothelioma (PM).

The ETOP Mesoscape project, of which St James’s Hospital and Trinity College Dublin are members, is a translational research initiative focused on studying the molecular epidemiology of malignant mesothelioma in Europe, using a centralised biobank and clinical database to expedite knowledge of clinical and molecular biomarkers

In new research published in the ASCO journal JCO Precision Oncology, the group investigate the expression of CD276 in the multicentre PM cohort and correlates the results with annotated clinical data.

CD276 immunohistochemistry results were available for 353 patients, with mostly epithelioid histology (71 per cent). Membranous CD276 expression was present in 86 per cent. High membranous CD276 expression (H-score ≥the median H-score of 120) was significantly more common in females (P=0.0029; 71% v 47%) and in epithelioid histology (P<0.001; 59% v 29%), whereas no significant association in clinical outcome (overall survival/progression-free survival) was found.

Cross-validation of the tissue microarray (TMAs) method revealed a moderate agreement for membranous assessment (Cohen’s kappa = 0.47) and a lower agreement for cytoplasm assessment (Cohen’s kappa = 0.37).

In an exploratory analysis, high cytoplasmic CD276 expression was associated with worse prognosis, but this was not significant when adjusting for other clinical variables.

Although no prognostic value of CD276 expression was found, the study authors say its high membranous expression (86 per cent) in the PM samples calls for further research of its potential as a therapeutic target for this disease.

Author Bios

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