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Updated: Nov 6, 2025
Quantitative Immunohistochemistry of the Cellular Microenvironment in Patient Glioblastoma Resections
Published on: July 31, 2017
Integrated analysis of programmed cell death ligand 1 expression reveals increased levels in high-grade glioma
Dorothee Hölzl1, Georg Hutarew1, Barbara Zellinger1
1Institute of Pathology, University Hospital Salzburg, Paracelsus Medical University, Müllner Hauptstr. 48, 5020, Salzburg, Austria.
Purpose:
Gliomas are the most frequent primary brain tumors of adults. Despite intensive research, there are still no targeted therapies available. Here, we performed an integrated analysis of glioma and programmed cell death ligand 1 (PD-L1) in 90 samples including 58 glioma and 32 control brain tissues.
Methods:
To identify PD-L1 expression in glioma, we performed immunohistochemical analysis of PD-L1 tumor proportion score (TPS) using the clinically valid PD-L1 22C3 antibody on 90 samples including controls and WHO grade I-IV gliomas.
Results:
We found that PD-L1 is highly expressed in a subfraction of glioma cells. Analysis of PD-L1 levels in different glioma subtypes revealed a strong intertumoral variation of PD-L1 protein. Furthermore, we correlated PD-L1 expression with molecular glioma hallmarks such as MGMT-promoter methylation, IDH1/2 mutations, TERT promoter mutations and LOH1p/19q.
Conclusion:
In summary, we found that PD-L1 is highly expressed in a subfraction of glioma, indicating PD-L1 as a potential new marker in glioma assessment opening up novel therapeutic approaches.
