The impact of a pathologist's personality on the interobserver variability and diagnostic accuracy of predictive PD-L1 immunohistochemistry in lung cancer

Rogier Butter, Liesbeth M Hondelink, Lisette van Elswijk, Johannes L G Blaauwgeers, Elisabeth Bloemena, Rieneke Britstra, Nicole Bulkmans, Anna Lena van Gulik, Kim Monkhorst, Mathilda J de Rooij, Ivana Slavujevic-Letic, Vincent T H B M Smit, Ernst-Jan M Speel, Erik Thunnissen, Jan H von der Thüsen, Wim Timens, Marc J van de Vijver, David C Y Yick, Aeilko H Zwinderman, Danielle CohenNils A 't Hart, Teodora Radonic*

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticleAcademicpeer-review

Abstract

OBJECTIVES: Programmed death-ligand 1 (PD-L1) is the only approved predictive biomarker for immunotherapy in non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). However, predictive PD-L1 immunohistochemistry is subject to interobserver variability. We hypothesized that a pathologist's personality influences the interobserver variability and diagnostic accuracy of PD-L1 immunoscoring.

MATERIALS AND METHODS: Seventeen pathologists performed PD-L1 immunoscoring on 50 resected NSCLC tumors in three categories (<1%;1-49%;≥50%). Also, the pathologists completed a certified personality test (NEO-PI-r), assessing five personality traits: neuroticism, extraversion, openness, altruism and conscientiousness.

RESULTS: The overall agreement among pathologists for a series of 47 tumors was substantial (kappa = 0.63). Of these, 23/47 (49%) tumors were entirely negative or largely positive, resulting in a kappa value of 0.93. The remaining 24/47 (51%) tumors had a PD-L1 score around the cutoff value, generating a kappa value of 0.32. Pathologists with high scores for conscientiousness (careful, diligent) had the least interobserver variability (r = 0.6, p = 0.009). Also, they showed a trend towards higher sensitivity (74% vs. 68%, p = 0.4), specificity (86% vs. 82%, p = 0.3) and percent agreement (83% vs. 79%, p = 0.3), although not significant. In contrast, pathologists with high scores for neuroticism (sensitive, anxious) had significantly lower specificity (80% vs. 87%, p = 0.03) and percent agreement (78% vs. 85%, p = 0.03). Also, a trend towards high interobserver variability (r = -0.3, p = 0.2) and lower sensitivity (68% vs. 74%, p = 0.3) was observed, although not significant. Pathologists with relatively high scores for conscientiousness scored fewer tumors PD-L1 positive at the ≥ 1% cut-off (r = -0.5, p = 0.03). In contrast, pathologists with relatively high scores for neuroticism score more tumors PD-L1 positive at ≥ 1% (r = 0.6, p = 0.017) and ≥ 50% cut-offs (r = 0.6, p = 0.009).

CONCLUSIONS: This study is the first to demonstrate the impact of a pathologist's personality on the interobserver variability and diagnostic accuracy of immunostaining, in the context of PD-L1 in NSCLC. Larger studies are needed for validation of these findings.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)143-149
Number of pages7
JournalLung Cancer
Volume166
Early online date5 Mar 2022
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - Apr 2022

Keywords

  • CELL
  • DECISION-MAKING
  • Diagnostic reliability
  • EXPRESSION
  • Immunohistochemistry
  • Interobserver variability
  • Non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC)
  • PEMBROLIZUMAB
  • TRAITS
  • programmed death-ligand 1 (PD-L1)

Fingerprint

Dive into the research topics of 'The impact of a pathologist's personality on the interobserver variability and diagnostic accuracy of predictive PD-L1 immunohistochemistry in lung cancer'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.

Cite this