Translational study demonstrates that WNT signaling regulates PD-L1 expression in breast cancer stem cells, suggesting a strategy to reverse immune evasion.
cells. Furthermore, treatment of TNBC cells with selective WNT inhibitors or activators downregulated or upregulated PD-L1 expression, respectively, implying a functional cross-talk between WNT activity and PD-L1 expression. Remarkably, human TNBC samples contained tumor elements co-expressing PD-L1 with ALDH1A1 and/or CD44v6. Additionally, both PD-L1-/SCA1-positive and ALDH1A1-positive tumor elements were found in close contact with CD3-, and PD-1-positive T cells in murine and human tumor samples. Overall, our study suggests that PD-L1-positive tumor elements with a stemness phenotype may participate in the complex dynamics of TNBC-related immune evasion, which might be targeted through WNT signaling inhibition.
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Castagnoli et al. (2019) studied this question.
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