Clinical Value of the PD-1/PD-L1/PD-L2 Pathway in Patients Suffering from Endometriosis

Dorota Suszczyk, Wiktoria Skiba, Witold Zardzewiały, Anna Pawłowska, Karolina Włodarczyk, Grzegorz Polak, Rafał Tarkowski, Iwona Wertel
International journal of molecular sciences · 2022 · vol. 23(19) , pp. 11607 · doi:10.3390/ijms231911607 · PMID:36232911 · W4303699515
article OA: gold CC0 ⤵ 13 in-corpus citations
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⚙ AI-generated summary by claude@2026-06, 2026-06-08 ⓘ

This study found elevated myeloid dendritic cells expressing PD-L1 or PD-L2 and higher soluble PD-L1/PD-L2 in peritoneal fluid of endometriosis patients compared to controls.

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Abstract

The interaction between dendritic cells (DCs) and T cells mediated by the programmed cell death 1 (PD-1)/programmed cell death ligand 1 (PD-L1)/programmed cell death ligand 2 (PD-L2) pathway is the most important point in regulating immunological tolerance and autoimmunity. Disturbances in the quantity, maturity, and activity of DCs may be involved in the implantation and growth of endometrial tissue outside the uterus in endometriosis (EMS). However, little is known about the role of the immune checkpoint pathways in EMS. In our study, we examined the expression of PD-L1/PD-L2 on myeloid DCs (mDCs) and plasmacytoid DCs (pDCs) in the peripheral blood (PB) and peritoneal fluid (PF) of both EMS patients (n = 72) and healthy subjects (n = 20) via flow cytometry. The concentration of soluble PD-L1 and PD-L2 in the plasma and PF of EMS patients and the control group were determined using ELISA. We demonstrated an elevated percentage of mDCs, mDCs and pDCs with the PD-L1or PD-L2 expression, and a higher concentration of the soluble forms of PD-L1 and PD-L2 in the PF than in the plasma of EMS patients. We conclude that the peritoneal cavity environment and the PD-1/PD-L1/PD-L2 axis may play an important role in the modulation of immune response and the development and/or progression of EMS.

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Condition tags

mesh:D004715endometriosis

MeSH descriptors

B7-H1 Antigen B7-H1 Antigen B7-H1 Antigen B7-H1 Antigen B7-H1 Antigen B7-H1 Antigen B7-H1 Antigen B7-H1 Antigen B7-H1 Antigen B7-H1 Antigen B7-H1 Antigen B7-H1 Antigen B7-H1 Antigen B7-H1 Antigen B7-H1 Antigen Endometriosis Endometriosis Endometriosis Endometriosis Endometriosis

Citation neighborhood

Papers in the corpus that this work cites (lower rings, blue) and that cite this one (upper rings, green). Dot size scales with the paper's in-corpus citation count — bigger dot = more influential within the endo/adeno field. Click a dot to open that paper. [ expand to 2 hops ] — adds papers reached through this work's immediate citers/citees. Heavier; up to 60 extra dots.

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