Regulation of PD-L1 expression in the tumor microenvironment

• Published in: Journal of hematology and oncology Vol. 14; no. 1; p. 10
• Main Authors: Yi, Ming, Niu, Mengke, Xu, Linping, Luo, Suxia, Wu, Kongming
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: England BioMed Central Ltd 07.01.2021; BioMed Central; BMC
• Subjects: Apoptosis; Binding sites; Cancer; Cancer immunology; Cancer therapies; Care and treatment; Cell death; Deoxyribonucleic acid; Development and progression; DNA; DNA methylation; Epigenetics; Hematology; Homeostasis; Hyperactivity; Immune response; Interferon; Kinases; Liver cancer; Lung cancer; Lymphocytes; Lymphocytes T; Lymphoma; Oncology; Patients; PD-1; PD-1 protein; PD-L1; PD-L1 protein; Phosphorylation; Post-transcription; Post-transcriptional modification; Post-translation; Proteins; Review; T cells; Transcriptional regulation; Tumor microenvironment; Tumor necrosis factor-TNF; Tumors; Cancer immunology; PD-L1; Transcriptional regulation; PD-1; Post-transcriptional modification
• ISSN: 1756-8722; 1756-8722
• DOI: 10.1186/s13045-020-01027-5

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.