Known as co-stimulatory molecule, programmed death ligand-2 (PD-L2) contributes to T-cell exhaustion by interaction with programmed death-1 (PD-1) receptor, but its tumor cell intrinsic signal effects has been little investigated.
PD-L2 expression was detected by immunohistochemistry in 18 pairs of primary osteosarcoma tissues and matching lung metastasis tissues. We also investigated the effects of PD-L2 knockdown on osteosarcoma both in vitro and in vivo.
In our study, PD-L2 expression was elevated in lung metastases compared with primary osteosarcoma according to an immunohistochemistry assay. Wound healing and transwell assays revealed that PD-L2 knockdown leads to inhibition of migration and invasion of human osteosarcoma cells in vitro. Mechanistically, we demonstrated that PD-L2 knockdown attenuated migration and invasion by inactivating RhoA-ROCK-LIMK2 signaling, suppressing epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT), and inhibiting autophagy by decreasing beclin1 expression. In support of these observations, beclin1 knockdown also inhibited activation of the RhoA-ROCK-LIMK2 pathway, leading to autophagy inhibition-induced blockade of migration and invasion. Depletion of PD-L2 in KHOS cells markedly weakens pulmonary metastatic potential in vivo by orthotopic transplantation of nude mice.
Our study reveals a pro-metastatic functional mechanism for PD-L2 in osteosarcoma. Furthermore, we demonstrate a regulatory role for PD-L2 on autophagy as well as a relationship between autophagy and metastasis in osteosarcoma, which may represent a potential therapeutic target for osteosarcoma.
Tingting Ren.
Has not received any funding.
All authors have declared no conflicts of interest.