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Review
. 2024;43(1):79-92.
doi: 10.3233/BD-249006.

PD-1/PD-L1 pathway: Current research in breast cancer

Salman Ardi Syamsu  1 , Muhammad Faruk  2 , Nilam Smaradania  1 , Elridho Sampepajung  1 , Agung Sindu Pranoto  1 , Febie Irsandy  3 , Iin Fadhilah Utami Tammasse  4
Affiliations
Review

PD-1/PD-L1 pathway: Current research in breast cancer

Salman Ardi Syamsu et al. Breast Dis. 2024.

Abstract

Introduction: Immunotherapy has shown encouraging outcomes in breast cancer (BC) treatment in recent years. The programmed cell death ligand 1 (PD-L1) transmembrane protein is suggested to function as a co-inhibitory factor in the immune response, where it collaborates with programmed cell death protein 1 (PD-1) to stimulate apoptosis, suppress cytokine release from PD-1 positive cells, and limit the growth of PD-1 positive cells. Furthermore, in many malignancies, PD-L1 reduces the immune system's response to neoplastic cells. These observations suggest that the PD-1/PD-L1 axis plays a vital role in cancer therapy and the regulation of cancer immune escape mechanisms. This review aimed to provide an overview of the functions of PD-1 and PD-L1 in BC cancer therapy.

Methods: This research design is a literature review. The style is a traditional review on topics or variables relating to the PD-1/PD-L1 pathway. A literature search was carried out using three online databases.

Results: The search using the keywords yielded a total of 248 studies. Each result was filtered again according to the inclusion and exclusion criteria, resulting in a final total of 4 studies to be included in the literature review.

Conclusions: The combination of PD-1/PD-L1 is essential for many malignancies. According to the evidence presented, this combination presents both an opportunity and a challenge in cancer treatment. Since many solid cancers, especially BC, express high levels of PD-1/PD-L1, cancer treatment mainly involves targeted therapies.

Keywords: Breast cancer; immune system; programmed cell death receptor; programmed cell death 1 ligand 1.

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Conflict of interest statement

Each author declares that he or she has no commercial associations (e.g., consultancies, stock ownership, equity interest, patent/licensing arrangement etc.) that might pose a conflict of interest in connection with the submitted article.

Figures

Fig. 1.
Fig. 1.
Characteristics of cancer cells [10]. Created with Biorender.com.
Fig. 2.
Fig. 2.
PRISMA flow diagram was used in this study.
Fig. 3.
Fig. 3.
Cancer immune system [11]. Created with Biorender.com.
Fig. 4.
Fig. 4.
Stages of the immunoediting process [13]. Created with Biorender.com.
Fig. 5.
Fig. 5.
The main stages of immune system-based metastasis cascade [14]. Created with Biorender.com.
Fig. 6.
Fig. 6.
Diagrammatic representation of the protein structure domains, mRNA, and PD-L1 gene [22]. Created with Biorender.com.
Fig. 7.
Fig. 7.
Protein structure, mRNA and PD-L1 gene [24]. Created with Biorender.com.
Fig. 8.
Fig. 8.
PD-L1 regulatory signaling pathway [23]. Created with Biorender.com.
Fig. 9.
Fig. 9.
PD-1/PD-L1 signaling reduces proliferation, survival, and cytokine production of CD8+ T cells [25]. Created with Biorender.com.
Fig. 10.
Fig. 10.
PD-1/PD-L1 inhibitors in malignancies [43]. Created with Biorender.com.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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