Related Experiment Video
Updated: Jul 16, 2025
Expression of Exogenous Cytokine in Patient-derived Xenografts via Injection with a Cytokine-transduced Stromal Cell Line
Published on: May 10, 2017
PD-L1 and PD-1 expression in pediatric post-transplant Burkitt lymphoma and other monomorphic post-transplant
Ashley V Geerlinks1, Upton Allen2, Bo-Yee Ngan3
1Pediatric Hematology/Oncology, Children's Hospital, Schulich School of Medicine, Western University, London, Ontario, Canada.
Background:
Post-transplant lymphoproliferative disorders (PTLD) develop as a consequence of immune suppression. Programmed death protein 1 (PD-1), a regulator of host immune activation, binds to programmed death-ligand 1 (PD-L1) to suppress the T-cell immune response. PD-1/PD-L1 pathway may play a role in PTLD. The objective was to describe intratumoral expression of PD-L1 and PD-1 in pediatric monomorphic PTLD, and assess if density of these cells is associated with progression-free survival (PFS) and overall survival (OS).
Procedure:
Clinical variables and outcome data were collected on B-cell monomorphic PTLD treated in Toronto, Canada between 2000 and 2017. Diagnostic area from tumor tissue was identified to count CD3-positive or PD-1-positive cells and CD3-negative lymphoma B cells or PD-L1-positive cells. CD3+ , PD-1+ , and PD-L1+ cell densities were compared between cases of PTLD. OS and PFS were analyzed.
Results:
We identified 25 cases of B-cell monomorphic PTLD; majority Burkitt lymphoma (32%) and diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (56%). All cases had CD3+ cells infiltrating the tumor, and median percentage of CD3+ cells was 14% (interquartile range: 6.2%-25%). Twelve cases (48%) had PD-1+ cell infiltrating (range: 1%-83%) and 13 cases (52%) had no PD-1+ cells infiltrating. Sixteen cases (64%) had PD-L1+ cells present; however, there was no PD-L1 expression on any Burkitt lymphoma tissue. When comparing PD-1 and PD-L1 expression, there was no difference in OS or PFS.
Conclusion:
Intratumoral presence of PD-1+ and PD-L1+ cells varied in pediatric patients with monomorphic PTLD; however, no relationship to OS and PFS was identified.
