ArticlePloS one2021
PD-L1 expression on circulating tumor cells and platelets in patients with metastatic breast cancer.
Article in PloS one, 2021. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. It is linked to trial NCT05810402 (Liver Cancer and Immunotherapy), which is not on this map. Cited by 37 papers, 1 of them a synthesis 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.
Liver Cancer and Immunotherapy : Clinical Relevance of LIquid BioPSY
Who cites it
37 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 53 citations in OpenAlex.
- Biomarkers and factors in small cell lung cancer patients treated with immune checkpoint inhibitors: A meta-analysis.Cancer medicine · 2023Pooled it
- Circulating tumor cells in metastatic breast cancer patients treated with immune checkpoint inhibitors - a biomarker analysis of the ALICE and ICON trials.Molecular oncology · 2025Trial
- Platelets as non-canonical immune regulatory nodes: orchestrating T cell dysfunction and immunotherapy resistance in cancer.Apoptosis : an international journal on programmed cell death · 2026Review
- Platelet-neutrophil cooperation in cancer: mechanisms of metastatic niche formation and implications for prognostic stratification and therapy.Cellular oncology (Dordrecht, Netherlands) · 2026Review
- CTC cluster in breast cancer: synergetic metastasis promotion mechanism and transformation path from platelet cloaking to leukocyte escort.Clinical & translational oncology : official publication of the Federation of Spanish Oncology Societies and of the National Cancer Institute of Mexico · 2026Review
- Baseline PD-L1 expression on circulating immune cells as a predictor of survival and immune-related adverse events in extensive-stage small-cell lung cancer patients treated with durvalumab and carboplatin-etoposide (NCT04712903 Trial).Journal of translational medicine · 2026Observational
- Isolation and typing techniques for circulating tumor cells.Biomarker research · 2026Review
- From escort to target, the multidimensional roles and prospects of platelets in tumor immune checkpoint inhibitor therapy.Frontiers in immunology · 2026Review
- Circulating tumor cells: advancing personalized therapy in small cell lung cancer patients.Molecular oncology · 2025Review
- Liquid biopsy for guiding breast cancer immunotherapy.Immunotherapy · 2025Review
- Circulating biomarkers for diagnosis and response to therapies in cancer patients.International review of cell and molecular biology · 2025Review
- Knowledge-map and research trends of circulating tumor cells in breast cancer: a scientometric analysis.Discover oncology · 2024Article
- Circulating tumor cells: from new biological insights to clinical practice.Signal transduction and targeted therapy · 2024Review
- Radiolabelling and preclinical characterisation of [European journal of nuclear medicine and molecular imaging · 2024Article
- Investigating Radiotherapy Effects on PD-L1 Expression in Circulating Tumor Cells: An Exploratory Study.Asian Pacific journal of cancer prevention : APJCP · 2024Article
- Cellular therapeutics and immunotherapies in wound healing - on the pulse of time?Military Medical Research · 2024Review
- The interaction of platelet-related factors with tumor cells promotes tumor metastasis.Journal of translational medicine · 2024Review
- The localization, origin, and impact of platelets in the tumor microenvironment are tumor type-dependent.Journal of experimental & clinical cancer research : CR · 2024Article
- PD-L1 on large extracellular vesicles is a predictive biomarker for therapy response in tissue PD-L1-low and -negative patients with non-small cell lung cancer.Journal of extracellular vesicles · 2024Article
- Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
16 authors at 2 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
Abstract
backgroundImmune checkpoint inhibition is effective in several cancers. Expression of programmed death-ligand 1 (PD-L1) on circulating tumor or immune effector cells could provide insights into selection of patients for immune checkpoint inhibition.
methodsWhole blood was collected at serial timepoints from metastatic breast cancer patients and healthy donors for circulating tumor cell (CTC) and platelet PD-L1 analysis with a phycoerythrin-labeled anti-human PD-L1 monoclonal antibody (Biolegend clone 29E.2A3) using the CellSearch® assay. CTC PD-L1 was considered positive if detected on at least 1% of the cells; platelet PD-L1 was considered positive if ≥100 platelets per CellSearch frame expressed PD-L1.
resultsA total of 207 specimens from 124 metastatic breast cancer patients were collected. 52/124 (42%) samples at timepoint-1 (at or close to time of progressive disease) had ≥5 CTC/7.5ml whole blood. Of those, 21 (40%) had positive CTC PD-L1. In addition, platelet PD-L1 expression was observed in 35/124 (28%) at timepoint-1. Platelet PD-L1 was not detected in more than 70 specimens from 12 healthy donors. Platelet PD-L1 was associated with ≥5 CTC/7.5ml whole blood (p = 0.0002), less likely in patients with higher red blood cell counts (OR = 0.72, p<0.001) and a history of smoking tobacco (OR = 0.76, p<0.001). Platelet PD-L1 staining was not associated with tumor marker status, recent procedures or treatments, platelet-affecting drugs, or CTC PD-L1 expression.
conclusionPD-L1 expression was found in metastatic breast cancer patients on both CTC and platelets in an independent fashion. Inter-patient platelet PD-L1 expression was highly heterogeneous suggesting that it is a biological event associated with cancer in some but not all patients. Taken together, our data suggest that CTC and platelet PD-L1 expression could play a role in predicting which patients should receive immune checkpoint inhibition and as a pharmacodynamics biomarker during treatment.
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Registered trials
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.