Abstract
Even though overexpression of the immune checkpoint protein, programmed cell death ligand-1 (PD-L1), is observed in solid tumors, its expression patterns in acute myeloid leukemia remain understudied. As activation of the JAK/STAT pathway has been shown to enhance PD-L1 expression in preclinical models, we evaluated biopsies from AML patients with activating mutations in JAK2/STATs. PD-L1 expression was significantly upregulated in JAK2/STAT mutant cases when compared to JAK2 wildtype controls as demonstrated by PD-L1 immunohistochemistry staining and quantified using the combined positive score (CPS) system. There is significant overexpression of phosphorylated STAT3 expression in patients with oncogenic JAK2 activation and a positive correlation between p-STAT3 and PD-L1 expression. In conclusion, we demonstrate the CPS scoring system could be applied as a quantitative measure of PD-L1 expression in leukemias and that JAK2/STATs mutant AML can be potential candidates for checkpoint inhibitor trials.
Original language | English (US) |
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Pages (from-to) | 1662-1672 |
Number of pages | 11 |
Journal | Leukemia and Lymphoma |
Volume | 64 |
Issue number | 10 |
DOIs | |
State | Published - 2023 |
Keywords
- Acute myeloid leukemia (AML)
- JAK2 / STAT mutation
- combined positive score (CPS)
- programmed cell death ligand-1 (PD-L1)
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Hematology
- Oncology
- Cancer Research