Anti-tumour potential of PD-L1/PD-1 post-translational modifications

The immune checkpoint programmed death receptor 1 (PD-1) and programmed death ligand 1 (PD-L1) are biologically important immunosuppressive molecules, and the PD-L1/PD-1-mediated signalling pathway is currently considered one of the main mechanisms of tumour escape immune surveillance. PD-L1 is highly expressed on the cytomembrane of tumour cell and binds to PD-1 receptor of activated T cells. This interaction activates PD-L1/PD-1 downstream signal transduction, inhibiting T cells anti-tumour activity. Therefore, inhibitors of PD-L1/PD-1 activation, showing significant efficacy in some types of tumours, have been widely approved in clinical tumour therapy. Recent research on PD-L1/PD-1 signalling pathway regulation has shown post-translational modifications (PTMs) form of PD-L1 or PD-1, including glycosylation, ubiquitination, phosphorylation, and acetylation, which may play an important role in PD-L1/PD-1 signalling pathway regulation and anti-tumour function of T cells. In this review, we focused on PTMs of PD-L1/PD-1 research and potential applications in tumour immunotherapy.