Nicotine-induced PD-L1 expression in lung squamous cell carcinoma is mediated by the α7-nAChR/STAT3 signaling pathway

作者：Yinan Li, Wenting Wang, Yaoyao Wang, Ce Zhou, Xin Zou, Yixuan Wang, Ning Wang · 发表于：Translational Cancer Research · 年份：2025 · DOI：10.21037/tcr-2024-2587 · 被引用次数：4 · 研究领域：Cancer Immunotherapy and Biomarkers、Lung Cancer Research Studies、Cancer, Stress, Anesthesia, and Immune Response

Background: in LUSC tissues, and to evaluate their associations with PD-L1 expression. Methods: , signal transducer and activator of transcription 3 (STAT3), and CD274 (PD-L1) were quantified using quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction (qRT-PCR), while their protein levels were assessed by WB. Results: in LUSC cell lines decreased STAT3 phosphorylation (pSTAT3) and PD-L1 protein levels, while attenuating nicotine-induced PD-L1 upregulation. STAT3 silencing had no significant effect on α7-nAChR protein expression but downregulated PD-L1 protein levels and attenuated nicotine-induced PD-L1 upregulation. Conclusions: have a relatively worse prognosis. Nicotine may upregulate PD-L1 expression in LUSC through the α7-nAChR/STAT3 pathway.