We recently teamed up with cell and bead-based screening solutions provider IntelliCyt to deliver an an interactive webinar on PD-L1 – a fascinating topic with huge potential in cancer research and treatment.
Programmed death-ligand 1 (PD-L1) is a transmembrane protein that has been speculated to play a major role in suppressing the immune system during particular events such as pregnancy, tissue allografts, autoimmune disease and other disease states such as hepatitis. Normally the immune system reacts to foreign antigens where there is some accumulation in the lymph nodes or spleen which triggers a proliferation of antigen-specific CD8+ T cell. The formation of PD-1 receptor / PD-L1 or B7.1 receptor /PD-L1 ligand complex transmits an inhibitory signal which reduces the proliferation of these CD8+ T cells at the lymph nodes and supplementary to that PD-1 is also able to control the accumulation of foreign antigen specific T cells in the lymph nodes through apoptosis which is further mediated by a lower regulation of the gene Bcl-2.
It appears that upregulation of PD-L1 may allow cancers to evade the host immune system. An analysis of 196 tumor specimens from patients with renal cell carcinoma found that high tumor expression of PD-L1 was associated with increased tumor aggressiveness and a 4.5-fold increased risk of death. Ovarian cancer patients with higher expression of PD-L1 had a significantly poorer prognosis than those with lower expression. PD-L1 expression correlated inversely with intraepithelial CD8+ T-lymphocyte count, suggesting that PD-L1 on tumor cells may suppress antitumor CD8+ T cells. Following the FDA approval of a number of PD-1 inhibitors for cancer treatment, clinical trials have begun for PD-L1 inhibitors. This remains a fascinating and potentially critical area of research.
The webinar recording features a presentation by our Chief Technology Officer Dr Matt Johnson (link is external). In it, he discusses Affimer® technology, a novel antibody mimetic and powerful antibody alternative. Plus:
- Why Affimer technology has a number of key benefits over other affinity reagents.
- How Avacta uses the IntelliCyt iQue device in its screening process.
- A case study using Affimer technology to inhibit PD-L1, an immune check point protein expressed by tumor cells to trick t-cells into not destroying them.
Access the webinar here (link is external), or using the button below.