2023/11/10 by Handi Cao, Yang Xiang, Shihui Zhang +7 · 1 voice
Immunology and Microbiology · #Immune cells in cancer #Immunotherapy and Immune Responses #Phagocytosis and Immune Regulation
paper · pdf · doi:10.26508/lsa.202302461
openalex publication_date 2023/11/10 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/05/21
Programmed death ligand 1 (PD-L1) serves as a pivotal immune checkpoint in both the innate and adaptive immune systems. PD-L1 is expressed in macrophages in response to IFNγ. We examined whether PD-L1 might regulate macrophage development. We established PD-L1 KO ( CD274 -/- ) human pluripotent stem cells and differentiated them into macrophages and observed a 60% reduction in CD11B + CD45 + macrophages in CD274 -/- ; this was orthogonally verified, with the PD-L1 inhibitor BMS-1166 reducing macrophages to the same fold. Single-cell RNA sequencing further confirmed the down-regulation of the macrophage-defining transcription factors SPI1 and MAFB . Furthermore, CD274 -/- macrophages reduced the level of inflammatory signals such as NF-κB and TNF, and chemokine secretion of the CXCL and CCL families. Anti-inflammatory TGF-β was up-regulated. Finally, we identified that CD274 -/- macrophages significantly down-regulated interferon-stimulated genes despite the presence of IFNγ in the differentiation media. These data suggest that PD-L1 regulates inflammatory programs of macrophages from human pluripotent stem cells.