ArticleBMC cancer2023
PD-L1 is highly expressed in ovarian cancer and associated with cancer stem cells populations expressing CD44 and other stem cell markers.
Article in BMC cancer, 2023. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 29 papers.
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Who cites it
29 citing papers in PubMed, 47 citations in OpenAlex.
- PD-L1 in Ovarian Cancer: Immune Evasion, Tumor-Intrinsic Signaling, and Chemoresistance.Cancer medicine · 2026Review
- Emerging Near-Infrared Targeted Imaging Pharmaceutics for Ovarian Cancer.Pharmaceutics · 2026Review
- A comprehensive review of the emerging role of NRF3 in ovarian cancer tumorigenesis and progression.Journal of ovarian research · 2026Review
- Shaping the future one slice at a time: How 3D organotypic tumour slice models are driving drug discovery in ovarian cancer.Translational oncology · 2026Review
- Diversity within ovarian cancer subtypes and their tumor microenvironment.Frontiers in oncology · 2026Review
- MXene-based electrochemical sensors for cancer biomarker detection: current trends, challenges, and future directions.Mikrochimica acta · 2025Review
- Claudin-4 as a dual regulator of genome stability and immune evasion in high grade serous ovarian cancer.Scientific reports · 2025Article
- Article
- Secreted AZGP1 induced by 5-FU binds to PD-L1 and promotes apoptosis in cholangiocarcinoma.Molecular medicine (Cambridge, Mass.) · 2025Article
- Cancer stem cells: Bridging microenvironmental interactions and clinical therapy.Clinical and translational medicine · 2025Review
- A comprehensive overview of ovarian cancer stem cells: correlation with high recurrence rate, underlying mechanisms, and therapeutic opportunities.Molecular cancer · 2025Review
- Article
- Stemness-driven clusters in ovarian cancer: immune characteristics and prognostic implications.Frontiers in oncology · 2025Article
- Spotlight on nuclear PD-L1 in ovarian cancer chemoresistance: hidden but mighty.Frontiers in immunology · 2025Article
- Breaking Immunosuppression to Enhance Cancer Stem Cell-Targeted Immunotherapy.International journal of biological sciences · 2025Review
- Dysgerminomas: germ cell tumors exhibit high expression of PD-L1 and associated with high TILs and good prognosis.Scientific reports · 2024Article
- Review
- Advances in the role of GPX3 in ovarian cancer (Review).International journal of oncology · 2024Article
- Significant Association of PD-L1 With CD44 Expression and Patient Survival: Avenues for Immunotherapy and Cancer Stem Cells Downregulation in Pancreatic Cancers.Journal of cancer epidemiology · 2024Article
- Enhanced amphiregulin exposure promotes modulation of the high grade serous ovarian cancer tumor immune microenvironment.Frontiers in pharmacology · 2024Article
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Authors and funding
11 authors at 5 institutions in 2 countries.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundImmune checkpoint inhibitors, including PD-L1 (programmed death ligand-1) inhibitors have well documented anticancer therapeutic effect in most types of cancers but its use in the treatment of ovarian cancer is not yet proven. The aim of our study is to explore the predictive biomarkers in ovarian cancer and its association with the outcomes. We have investigated the role of PD-L1 expressions in the tumor microenvironment cells including immune cells and cancer stem cells in different types of ovarian cancer.
methodsA total of 119 surgical archived ovarian cancer samples were collected from the pathology department at King Fahad Specialist Hospital, Dammam, Saudi Arabia that included serous carcinomas, clear cell carcinomas, mucinous carcinomas, endometrioid carcinomas, and granulosa cell tumors. Immunohistochemistry (IHC) staining was performed using (i) PD-L1 antibodies to detect PD-L1 expressions; (ii) CD8 and CD4 to detect Tumor Infiltrating Lymphocytes (TILs); and (iii) CD44, LGR5, and ALDH2 to detect stem cell markers. The clinicopathological data were collected from patients' medical record to investigate the association with PD-L1, TILs, and stem cells expressions.
resultsWe report high PD-L1 expressions in 47.8% of ovarian cancer samples. PD-L1 expressions were detected in different types of epithelial ovarian cancer and were not associated with poor prognosis of ovarian cancer. However, determining the expression levels of TILs in the ovarian cancer tissues found that 81% (n = 97) of ovarian cancer samples have TILs that express both of CD8 and CD4 and significantly associated with high PD-L1 expressions. Interestingly, we have found that ovarian cancer tissues with high expressions of PD-L1 were associated with high expressions of stem cells expressing CD44 and LGR5.
conclusionsPD-L1 is highly expressed in the serous type of ovarian carcinomas and the overall expression of PD-L1 is not associated with poor survival rate. Furthermore, PD-L1 expressions are strongly associated with TILs and stem cell markers in ovarian cancer. Inhibiting the PD-L1 using immune checkpoint inhibitors might downregulate stem cell population that known to be associated with cancer recurrence.
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