Immunohistochemical expression of PD-L1 and MDR1 in breast tumors: association with clinico-pathological parameters and treatment outcome

Antitumor immune evasion is a hallmark for the development and progression of cancer. Tumor cells adopt various mechanisms to escape the host immune system recognition. One such mechanism is the over expression of programmed death ligand (PD-L1), a negative T cell regulatory molecule. Because PD-L1 overexpression causes resistance to chemotherapeutic response in many cancers, herein we explored the relationship between PD-L1 and multidrug resistance protein MDR1 in breast cancer. Immunohistochemical evaluation of PD-L1 and MDR1 proteins in 194 breast cancer tissue samples were carried out. The relationship between PD-L1 and MDR1 expression on cancer cells with clinicopathological factors and prognosis was investigated. IHC showed a significant correlation between PD-L1 and MDR1 expression on tumor cells. Increased PD-L1 expression was also associated with lymph node status and tumor grade of the patient. Our results also revealed that the expression of PD-L1 and MDR1 was higher in TNBC subtype compared to other breast cancer subtypes. Therefore, a better understanding of the molecular mechanism through which PD-1/PD-L1 pathway contribute to the chemoresistance might bring forth the prognostic significance of PD-L1 and selection of patients who may benefit from immunotherapy.