ArticleNature communications2019
The Aryl hydrocarbon receptor mediates tobacco-induced PD-L1 expression and is associated with response to immunotherapy.
Article in Nature communications, 2019. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. An erratum has been issued. Cited by 134 papers, 5 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
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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.
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.
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Who cites it
134 citing papers in PubMed, 5 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 216 citations in OpenAlex.
- Modifiable lifestyle and metabolic risk factors for colorectal polyps: a systematic review and meta-analysis.Frontiers in public health · 2025Pooled it
- Pooled it
- Lack of association between multiple polymorphisms in aryl hydrocarbon receptor (AhR) gene and cancer susceptibility.Environmental health and preventive medicine · 2020Pooled it
- Molecular heterogeneity of anti-PD-1/PD-L1 immunotherapy efficacy is correlated with tumor immune microenvironment in East Asian patients with non-small cell lung cancer.Cancer biology & medicine · 2020Pooled it
- Smokers or non-smokers: who benefits more from immune checkpoint inhibitors in treatment of malignancies? An up-to-date meta-analysis.World journal of surgical oncology · 2020Pooled it
- First-line treatment with camrelizumab plus famitinib in advanced or metastatic NSCLC patients with PD-L1 TPS ≥1%: results from a multicenter, open-label, phase 2 trial.Journal for immunotherapy of cancer · 2024Trial
- Molecular pathways linking the gut microbiome to antitumor immunity.Trends in microbiology · 2026Review
- Chronic Air Pollution Exposure and the Immunomolecular Profile of Lung Cancer: A Regional Cohort Study.Biomedicines · 2026Article
- Pooled survival and cost-effectiveness analysis of immune checkpoint inhibitors-based for metastatic non-small-cell lung cancer with PD-L1 lower than 1.Health economics review · 2026Article
- Article
- Role of the neurotransmitter-receptor pathway in T-cell tumor immunology and cancer immunotherapy.Acta biochimica et biophysica Sinica · 2026Review
- The aryl hydrocarbon receptor: structure, signaling, physiology and pathology.Signal transduction and targeted therapy · 2026Review
- Aryl Hydrocarbon Receptor Ligands Drive Pancreatic Cancer Initiation and Progression through Protumorigenic T-cell Polarization.Cancer discovery · 2026Article
- Comparative evaluation of machine learning models for predicting PD-L1 high expression in resectable NSCLC: a dual-center study integrating [Frontiers in immunology · 2026Article
- Smohaze-Upregulated RFWD3 Competes with TRIM24 to Stabilize TREX1 and Reduce Cytosolic dsDNA in Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer.Advanced science (Weinheim, Baden-Wurttemberg, Germany) · 2025Article
- Immunotherapy in central nervous system tumors.International journal of surgery (London, England) · 2025Review
- Targeting heat shock protein 90 with usnic acid relieves immune suppression via aryl hydrocarbon receptor-mediated mechanisms in lung cancer.Molecular biomedicine · 2025Article
- Dendritic cell-targeted liposomes for cancer immunotherapy via inhibition of aryl hydrocarbon receptor.Journal of nanobiotechnology · 2025Article
- A population-based nomogram for prognostic assessment in advanced lung cancer following progression with immune checkpoint inhibitor.Journal of thoracic disease · 2025Article
- Interplay between AHR genotypes, lifestyle factors and adjuvant breast cancer treatments significantly impacts clinical outcome in a population-based cohort.BJC reports · 2025Article
74 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
Corrections and comments
- Erratum issued
Authors and funding
14 authors at 6 institutions in 2 countries.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Whether tobacco carcinogens enable exposed cells immune escape resulting in carcinogenesis, and why patients who smoke respond better to immunotherapies than non-smokers, remains poorly understood. Here we report that cigarette smoke and the carcinogen benzo(a)pyrene (BaP) induce PD-L1 expression on lung epithelial cells in vitro and in vivo, which is mediated by aryl hydrocarbon receptor (AhR). Anti-PD-L1 antibody or deficiency in AhR significantly suppresses BaP-induced lung cancer. In 37 patients treated with anti-PD-1 antibody pembrolizumab, 13/16 (81.3%) patients who achieve partial response or stable disease express high levels of AhR, whereas 12/16 (75%) patients with progression disease exhibit low levels of AhR in tumor tissues. AhR inhibitors exert significant antitumor activity and synergize with anti-PD-L1 antibody in lung cancer mouse models. These results demonstrate that tobacco smoke enables lung epithelial cells to escape from adaptive immunity to promote tumorigenesis, and AhR predicts the response to immunotherapy and represents an attractive therapeutic target.
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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.