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. 2023 May 15;13(5):2041–2054.

Figure 3.

Figure 3

Statins suppress PD-L1 expression of pancreatic cancer cells by downregulating TAZ expression. A. Simvastatin treatment suppressed PD-L1 expression in MIA PaCa-2 and PK-8 cells by FACS analysis. MFI, median fluorescence intensity. *P < 0.05 and **P < 0.01. B. Simvastatin treatment suppressed PD-L1 expression in MIA PaCa-2 cell by western blot. β-actin protein expression served as a loading control. Representative blots are shown. C. Not only lipophilic statins (atorvastatin, fluvastatin, and simvastatin) but also hydrophilic statins (pravastatin and rosuvastatin) suppressed the PD-L1 expression in PK-8 cell. D. Downregulation of YAP/TAZ using siRNA technique decreased PD-L1 expression in MIA PaCa-2 cell. β-actin protein expression served as a loading control. Representative blots are shown. E. Overexpression of TAZ enhanced PD-L1 expression and attenuated the simvastatin-induced decrease in PD-L1 expression, but not in YAP overexpression. β-actin protein expression served as a loading control. Representative blots are shown. F. JNK inhibitor hindered the PD-L1 down-regulation induced by Simvastatin treatment. β-actin protein expression served as a loading control. Representative blots are shown. G. Simvastatin treatment addition to anti-PD-1 drug displayed immediately anti-growth effect compared to controls such as anti-PD-1 only and simvastatin only, and suppressed progressive disease during early period by anti-PD-1 treatment in vivo.