An optimized protocol for PD-L1 pathological assessment with patient sample deglycosylation to improve correlation with therapeutic response.

Immunotherapy via PD-1/PD-L1 blockade is a promising strategy to eradicate cancer cells. However, the PD-L1 pathological level is inconsistent with the therapeutic response and is not a reliable biomarker to stratify patients for anti-PD-1/PD-L1 therapy. Here, we describe patient sample deglycosylation in an immunohistochemistry (IHC) assay to resolve this challenge. This protocol facilitates antigen retrieval by removing N -glycans from surface antigens on formalin-fixed paraffin-embedded (FFPE) tissue slides and can be applied in medical pathology for multiple cancer types. For complete details on the use and execution of this profile, please refer to Lee et al. (2019).
Competing Interests: H.-H.L., Y.-N.W., and M.-C.H. are listed as inventors on a patent application (International Patent Application No. PCT/US2019/036073 based on U.S. Provisional Patent Application No. 62/681,929, entitled “Detection of Immune Checkpoint Molecules by Deglycosylation”) submitted by The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center. All other authors declare no non-financial or financial competing interests.
(© 2022 The Author(s).)