Clinicopathological features of LOXL1-expressing non-small cell lung cancer: relation to the extent of CD8+ T-cell infiltration.

Lysyl oxidase-like 1 (LOXL1) is believed to play pleiotropic roles in various cancers, including modulation of tumor-immune interactions. However, its clinicopathological significance in lung carcinogenesis remains poorly defined. In this study, we evaluated LOXL1 expression in non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) and assessed its clinicopathological correlates. LOXL1 expression was analyzed in surgically resected NSCLC tissue specimens obtained from 88 patients. In this cohort, 59 tumors exhibited high LOXL1 immunoreactivity and 29 exhibited low immunoreactivity. LOXL1-high immunoreactivity was significantly associated with increased CD8+ T-cell infiltration, reduced lymphatic invasion, reduced lymph node metastasis, and earlier pathological stage. Kaplan-Meier analysis demonstrated that patients with LOXL1-high immunoreactivity had significantly longer disease-specific and relapse-free survival (log-rank test, P = 0.014 and 0.023, respectively). Collectively, these findings suggest that LOXL1 expression is a potential clinicopathological biomarker in NSCLC.