Nicotine treatment regulates PD-L1 and PD-L2 expression via inhibition of Akt pathway in HER2-type breast cancer cells

PLoS One. 2022 Jan 27;17(1):e0260838. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0260838. eCollection 2022.

Abstract

The immune checkpoint molecules such as PD-L1 and PD-L2 have a substantial contribution to cancer immunotherapy including breast cancer. Microarray expression profiling identified several molecular subtypes, namely luminal-type (with a good-prognosis), HER2-type (with an intermediate-prognosis), and triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC)-type (with a poor-prognosis). We found that PD-L1 and PD-L2 mRNA expressions were highly expressed in TNBC-type cell lines (HCC1937, MDA-MB-231), moderately expressed in HER2-type cell line (SK-BR-3), and poorly expressed in luminal-type cell lines (MDA-MB-361, MCF7). The PD-L1 and PD-L2 expression in SK-BR-3 cells, but not those in HCC1937 and MDA-MB-231 cells, decreased by nicotine stimulation in a dose-dependent manner. In addition, nicotine treatment decreased the phosphorylation of Akt in SK-BR-3 cells, but not in other cell lines. These results show that nicotine regulates the expression of immune checkpoint molecules, PD-L1 and PD-L2, via inhibition of Akt phosphorylation. This findings may provide the new therapeutic strategies for the treatment of breast cancer.

MeSH terms

  • B7-H1 Antigen / genetics*
  • Breast Neoplasms / classification
  • Breast Neoplasms / drug therapy
  • Breast Neoplasms / genetics*
  • Cell Line, Tumor
  • Cell Proliferation / drug effects
  • Cell Survival / drug effects
  • Dose-Response Relationship, Drug
  • Female
  • Gene Expression Regulation, Neoplastic / drug effects
  • Humans
  • Nicotine / pharmacology*
  • Phosphorylation / drug effects
  • Programmed Cell Death 1 Ligand 2 Protein / genetics*
  • Proto-Oncogene Proteins c-akt / metabolism
  • Receptor, ErbB-2 / genetics*
  • Signal Transduction / drug effects
  • Up-Regulation / drug effects

Substances

  • B7-H1 Antigen
  • CD274 protein, human
  • PDCD1LG2 protein, human
  • Programmed Cell Death 1 Ligand 2 Protein
  • Nicotine
  • ERBB2 protein, human
  • Receptor, ErbB-2
  • Proto-Oncogene Proteins c-akt

Grants and funding

This work was supported in part by SRF (Tokyo, Japan, https://www.srf.or.jp/) to NS. The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.