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ARTICLE | Clinical News

Merck team ties PD-L2 to immunotherapy response

June 16, 2017 10:39 PM UTC

In a paper published in Clinical Cancer Research, researchers at Merck & Co. Inc. (NYSE:MRK) showed programmed cell death 1 ligand 2 (PD-L2; PDCD1LG2; B7-DC) could predict patient response to PD-1 checkpoint inhibitors including Keytruda pembrolizumab in cancer patients, suggesting PD-L2 expression could provide information beyond PD-L1 status in predicting clinical response.

While the interaction between PD-1 and its ligand PD-L1 has been characterized extensively and PD-L1 is used a predictive biomarker of responsiveness to PD-1 immunotherapy, less is known about PD-1's interaction with its other ligand, PD-L2...