Evidence map›Paper›PMID 27508013›Full record

ArticleAmerican journal of translational research2016

Follicular helper T cell exhaustion induced by PD-L1 expression in hepatocellular carcinoma results in impaired cytokine expression and B cell help, and is associated with advanced tumor stages.

Zun-Qiang Zhou, Da-Nian Tong, Jiao Guan, Hung-Wu Tan, Lu-Don Zhao, Ying Zhu, Jing Yao, Jun Yang, Zheng-Yun Zhang

Open access · greenAbstract read
PubMed Full text at PMC
In one paragraph

Article in American journal of translational research, 2016. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 36 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
36citing papers in PubMed, 1 pooled it
3.1field-weighted citation impact, top 8% of its field
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

36 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 44 citations in OpenAlex.

  1. Pooled it
  2. The Role of CD4Cells · 2026
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4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

9 authors at 2 institutions in 1 country.

Zun-Qiang ZhouDepartment of Surgery, Shanghai Jiao Tong University Affiliated Sixth People's Hospital Shanghai, China.
Da-Nian TongDepartment of Surgery, Shanghai Jiao Tong University Affiliated Sixth People's Hospital Shanghai, China.
Jiao GuanDepartment of Surgery, Shanghai Jiao Tong University Affiliated Sixth People's Hospital Shanghai, China.
Hung-Wu TanBeijing General Hospital Bejing, China.
Lu-Don ZhaoBeijing General Hospital Bejing, China.
Ying ZhuDepartment of Surgery, Shanghai Jiao Tong University Affiliated Sixth People's Hospital Shanghai, China.
Jing YaoDepartment of Surgery, Shanghai Jiao Tong University Affiliated Sixth People's Hospital Shanghai, China.
Jun YangDepartment of Surgery, Shanghai Jiao Tong University Affiliated Sixth People's Hospital Shanghai, China.
Zheng-Yun ZhangDepartment of Surgery, Shanghai Jiao Tong University Affiliated Sixth People's Hospital Shanghai, China.
Shanghai Sixth People's Hospital · CNShanghai Jiao Tong University · CN

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

Hepatitis B virus (HBV)-related hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is one of the most common cancers in HBV-endemic regions, with irreversible progression and poor prognosis. HBV-related HCC patients lack effective antiviral/antitumor B cell antibody responses. We hypothesize that dysregulation of PD-1-expressing follicular helper T (Tfh) cell, induced by intrahepatic/intratumoral PD-L1 expression in HCC, could contribute to the defects in B cell immunity. The Tfh responses in healthy control (HC) subjects, chronic hepatitis B (HepB) patients, and HBV-related HCC patients were examined. Compared to HC and HepB individuals, HCC patients showed reduced ICOS expression, IL-10 and IL-21 secretion, and proliferation in Tfh cells. Tfh cells from stage III patients demonstrated increased impairment than those from stage I and stage II patients. Compared to Tfh cells from HC and HepB subjects, those from stage III HCC patients were significantly less effective at inducing the differentiation of naive B cells toward plasmablasts. HCC is known to upregulate hepatic PD-L1 expression, which could suppress Tfh responses. Blocking PD-1 partially rescued the Tfh functions in stage I and stage II HCC subjects but not in stage III HCC patients, while treatment with recombinant PD-L1 strongly suppressed Tfh functions in all HCC stages. Moreover, the level of IL-10 and IL-21 expression by Tfh cells was inversely correlated with the intensity of PD-L1 expression in resected tumors. Together, our results demonstrated an HCC-specific Tfh exhaustion, which might have resulted from elevated PD-1 and PD-L1 signaling.

Indexed as

Follicular helper T cellshepatocellular carcinomaPD-L1

Identifiers

PMID27508013
PMCPMC4969429
OpenAlexW2519952874

What OpenQuestion holds

Textmetadata
Read underepoch 390

Registered trials

None linked

Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.