In the present study, early-stage NKTCL patients with a high concentration of serum soluble PD-L1 or a high percentage of PD-L1 expression on tumor tissues exhibited dismal survivals (3-year OS 45.3 and 46.5 %, respectively) even if they were uniformly treated with asparaginase-containing chemotherapy plus RT. The gene discussed is ASPG; the disease is neoplasm.