Role of the tumor microenvironment in PD-L1/PD-1-mediated tumor immune escape

Abstract Tumor immune escape is an important strategy of tumor survival. There are many mechanisms of tumor immune escape, including immunosuppression, which has become a research hotspot in recent years. The programmed death ligand-1/programmed death-1 (PD-L1/PD-1) signaling pathway is an important...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Xianjie Jiang, Jie Wang, Xiangying Deng, Fang Xiong, Junshang Ge, Bo Xiang, Xu Wu, Jian Ma, Ming Zhou, Xiaoling Li, Yong Li, Guiyuan Li, Wei Xiong, Can Guo, Zhaoyang Zeng
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: BMC 2019-01-01
Series:Molecular Cancer
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Online Access:http://link.springer.com/article/10.1186/s12943-018-0928-4
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Summary:Abstract Tumor immune escape is an important strategy of tumor survival. There are many mechanisms of tumor immune escape, including immunosuppression, which has become a research hotspot in recent years. The programmed death ligand-1/programmed death-1 (PD-L1/PD-1) signaling pathway is an important component of tumor immunosuppression, which can inhibit the activation of T lymphocytes and enhance the immune tolerance of tumor cells, thereby achieving tumor immune escape. Therefore, targeting the PD-L1/PD-1 pathway is an attractive strategy for cancer treatment; however, the therapeutic effectiveness of PD-L1/PD-1 remains poor. This situation requires gaining a deeper understanding of the complex and varied molecular mechanisms and factors driving the expression and activation of the PD-L1/PD-1 signaling pathway. In this review, we summarize the regulation mechanisms of the PD-L1/PD-1 signaling pathway in the tumor microenvironment and their roles in mediating tumor escape. Overall, the evidence accumulated to date suggests that induction of PD-L1 by inflammatory factors in the tumor microenvironment may be one of the most important factors affecting the therapeutic efficiency of PD-L1/PD-1 blocking.
ISSN:1476-4598