Correlations of PD-1/PD-L1 Gene Polymorphisms with Susceptibility and Prognosis in Non-Hodgkinʼs Lymphoma among Iranian Populatio

The activities of programmed cell death 1 (PD-1) and programmed death ligand-1 (PD-L1) have already been identified in various cancers. However, in non-Hodgkinʼs lymphoma (NHL), the prognostic value of PD-1/PD-L1 gene polymorphisms and expression levels remains unclear.

The present study aimed to investigate the relationship between the genetic polymorphisms of PD-1/PD-L1 genes and NHL in the Iranian population.

Four single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) of PD-1/PD-L1 genes were examined in 134 NHL patients and 134 healthy controls using polymerase chain reaction-restriction fragment length polymorphism. The expression levels of PD-1/PD-L1 genes were analyzed using real-time polymerase chain reaction.

The obtained results of the current study demonstrated that PD-L1 rs2890685 (A>C) SNP (P<0.0001) was significantly associated with the increased risk of NHL. The AA genotype of PD-L1 rs2890685 polymorphism was observed to be more prevalent in the NHL patients, compared to that reported for the healthy controls. There was no significant association between PD-L1 rs4143815, PD-1 rs11568821, and PD-1rs2227981 SNPs with the risk of NHL. Furthermore, the obtained findings showed that the messenger ribonucleic acid transcription levels of both PD-1 and PD-L1 were significantly higher in the NHL patients than those reported for the healthy controls (P<0.001).

According to the results of the current study, there was an association between functional PD-L1 rs2890685 polymorphism and risk of NHL, suggesting that the genetic variant of PD-L1 might be a possible prognostic marker for the prediction of the risk and development of NHL.