Regulation of PD-L1 Expression in the Tumor Microenvironment

Overview

Journal J Hematol Oncol

Publisher Biomed Central

Specialties Hematology
Oncology

Date 2021 Jan 8

PMID 33413496

Citations 285

Authors

Ming Yi

Mengke Niu

Linping Xu

Suxia Luo

Kongming Wu

Affiliations

Soon will be listed here.

Abstract

Programmed death-ligand 1 (PD-L1) on cancer cells engages with programmed cell death-1 (PD-1) on immune cells, contributing to cancer immune escape. For multiple cancer types, the PD-1/PD-L1 axis is the major speed-limiting step of the anti-cancer immune response. In this context, blocking PD-1/PD-L1 could restore T cells from exhausted status and eradicate cancer cells. However, only a subset of PD-L1 positive patients benefits from α-PD-1/PD-L1 therapies. Actually, PD-L1 expression is regulated by various factors, leading to the diverse significances of PD-L1 positivity. Understanding the mechanisms of PD-L1 regulation is helpful to select patients and enhance the treatment effect. In this review, we focused on PD-L1 regulators at the levels of transcription, post-transcription, post-translation. Besides, we discussed the potential applications of these laboratory findings in the clinic.

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