ArticleActa pharmaceutica Sinica. B2020
Berberine diminishes cancer cell PD-L1 expression and facilitates antitumor immunity
Article in Acta pharmaceutica Sinica. B, 2020. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 137 papers, 2 of them syntheses that pooled it.
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Who cites it
137 citing papers in PubMed, 2 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 214 citations in OpenAlex.
- Natural compounds as immune checkpoint inhibitors in melanoma: a systematic review.Naunyn-Schmiedeberg's archives of pharmacology · 2026Pooled it
- The effects of berberine on depressive symptoms: a systematic review and meta-analysis of preclinical studies.Frontiers in psychiatry · 2025Pooled it
- Mechanisms of traditional Chinese medicine in enhancing the efficacy and reducing the toxicity of immune checkpoint inhibitorsJournal of enzyme inhibition and medicinal chemistry · 2026Review
- A 'three-axis synergy' immunotherapeutic strategy for malignant bone tumors based on natural bioactives and bioactive materials.Bioactive materials · 2026Review
- Ubiquitin-driven regulation of immune checkpoints in lung cancer: Mechanisms and therapeutic implications (Review).Experimental and therapeutic medicine · 2026Review
- Mechanistic Links Between Natural Bioactive Molecules and Tumor Immune Microenvironment States in PD-1/PD-L1 Resistance.Biomedicines · 2026Review
- Cellular and Molecular Mechanisms of Berberine in Cancer Therapy: Recent Advances.Archiv der Pharmazie · 2026Review
- JAB1/CRL4B complex represses PPARG/ACSL5 expression to promote breast tumorigenesis.Cell death and differentiation · 2026Article
- SNORD50A/B disassemble ASC-1 complex to silence NF-κB and boost PD-1 blockade in non-small-cell lung cancer.NPJ precision oncology · 2026Article
- Plant-Derived Compounds as Potential Sensitizers to Immunotherapy in Melanoma.International journal of molecular sciences · 2026Review
- A novel photosensitizer berberine derivative B12 induces apoptosis and suppresses HIF-1α expression in colorectal cancer cells via mitochondria-to-nucleus sequential-targeting.Acta pharmacologica Sinica · 2026Article
- Black ginseng extract suppresses lung cancer growth in a xenograft mouse model.Translational cancer research · 2026Article
- Natural Compounds as Epimodulators in Epithelial Ovarian Cancer.Epigenomes · 2026Review
- Targeting the ANXA2-CD63-exosomal PD-L1 axis in hepatocellular carcinoma: A novel mechanism of immune evasion and its implications for precision immunotherapy.Neoplasia (New York, N.Y.) · 2026Article
- Proanthocyanidins enhance antitumor immunity by promoting ubiquitin-proteasomal PD-L1 degradation via stabilization of LKB1 and SYVN1.The Journal of clinical investigation · 2026Article
- Molecular landscape of Berberine's therapeutic potential in gastrointestinal disorders.Journal of traditional Chinese medicine = Chung i tsa chih ying wen pan · 2026Review
- Intratumoral immune-microbial crosstalk shaped by tumor cell-derived extracellular vesicles encapsulating berberine boosts lung cancer immunotherapy.Acta pharmaceutica Sinica. B · 2026Article
- Natural Products Targeting Key Molecular Hallmarks in Gastric Cancer: Focus on Apoptosis, Inflammation, and Chemoresistance.International journal of molecular sciences · 2026Review
- Paroxetine repurposing enhances antitumor immunity via SPOP-mediated PD-L1 ubiquitination and proteasomal degradation.Journal of experimental & clinical cancer research : CR · 2026Article
- Berberine AlleviatesInternational journal of molecular sciences · 2026Article
77 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
10 authors at 3 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Programmed cell death-1 (PD-1)/programmed cell death ligand-1 (PD-L1) blocking therapy has become a major pillar of cancer immunotherapy. Compared with antibodies targeting, small-molecule checkpoint inhibitors which have favorable pharmacokinetics are urgently needed. Here we identified berberine (BBR), a proven anti-inflammation drug, as a negative regulator of PD-L1 from a set of traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) chemical monomers. BBR enhanced the sensitivity of tumour cells to co-cultured T-cells by decreasing the level of PD-L1 in cancer cells. In addition, BBR exerted its antitumor effect in Lewis tumor xenograft mice through enhancing tumor-infiltrating T-cell immunity and attenuating the activation of immunosuppressive myeloid-derived suppressor cells (MDSCs) and regulatory T-cells (Tregs). BBR triggered PD-L1 degradation through ubiquitin (Ub)/proteasome-dependent pathway. Remarkably, BBR selectively bound to the glutamic acid 76 of constitutive photomorphogenic-9 signalosome 5 (CSN5) and inhibited PD-1/PD-L1 axis through its deubiquitination activity, resulting in ubiquitination and degradation of PD-L1. Our data reveals a previously unrecognized antitumor mechanism of BBR, suggesting BBR is small-molecule immune checkpoint inhibitor for cancer treatment.
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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.