PD-L1 testing by immunohistochemistry in immuno-oncology

Authors

  • Semir Vranic College of Medicine, QU Health, Qatar University, Doha, Qatar https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9743-7265
  • Zoran Gatalica Department of Pathology, University of Oklahoma College of Medicine, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, United States

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.17305/bjbms.2022.7953

Keywords:

Cancer, immunotherapy, immune checkpoint inhibitors, predictive biomarkers, PD-L1, immunohistochemistry

Abstract

Immunotherapy, based on immune checkpoint inhibitors targeting the Programmed cell death ligand 1 (PD-L1) and/or Programmed Death Receptor 1 (PD-1), has substantially improved the outcomes of patients with various cancers. However, only ~30% of patients benefit from immune checkpoint inhibitors. Tumor PD-L1 expression, assessed by immunohistochemistry, is the most widely validated and used predictive biomarker to guide the selection of patients for immune checkpoint inhibitors. PD-L1 assessment may be challenging due to the necessity for different companion diagnostic assays for required specific immune checkpoint inhibitors and a relatively high level of inter-assay variability in terms of performance and cutoff levels. In this review, we discuss the role of PD-L1 immunohistochemistry as a predictive test in immunotherapy (immuno-oncology), highlight the complexity of the PD-L1 testing landscape, discuss various preanalytical, analytical and clinical issues that are associated with PD-L1 assays, and provide some insights into optimization of PD-L1 as a predictive biomarker in immuno-oncology.

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PD-L1 testing by immunohistochemistry in Immuno-Oncology

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Published

06-01-2023

Issue

Section

Review

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How to Cite

1.
PD-L1 testing by immunohistochemistry in immuno-oncology. Biomol Biomed [Internet]. 2023 Jan. 6 [cited 2024 Dec. 6];23(1):15-2. Available from: https://www.bjbms.org/ojs/index.php/bjbms/article/view/7953