EXPRESSION OF PROGRAMMED DEATH LIGAND-1 (PD-L1) IN ORAL POTENTIALLY MALIGNANT DISORDERS (OPMDS): A COMPARATIVE IMMUNOHISTOCHEMICAL STUDY

Authors

  • Ammara Khattak Department of Oral Biology, Khyber College of Dentistry, Peshawar, Pakistan.
  • Najma Baseer Department of Anatomy, Institute of Basic Medical Sciences, Khyber Medical University, Peshawar, Pakistan.
  • Khurshid Ali Department of Oral Pathology, Khyber College of Dentistry, Peshawar, Pakistan.
  • Sana Safi Department of Oral Medicine, KMU Institute of Dental Sciences, Khyber Medical University, Kohat, Pakistan.

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.33279/jkcd.v16i02.967

Keywords:

Dysplasia, Immunotherapy, Immune checkpoint inhibitors, Oral Potentially Malignant Disorders, Oral Squamous Cell Carcinoma, Programmed Death-Ligand 1.

Abstract

Objectives: This study aimed to assess PD-L1 expression in Oral Potentially Malignant Disorders (OPMDs) and compare it with Oral Squamous Cell Carcinoma (OSCC).

Materials and Methods: Nineteen OPMD samples (14 biopsies and 5 cytology) were included in the study.  Histopathological reports confirmed the diagnosis of biopsy samples and grouped them into dysplasia (n=6), chronic inflammation (n=5), verrucous leukoplakia VL (n=1), oral lichen planus OLP (n=1), and oral submucous fibrosis OSMF (n=1).  The cytology samples were grouped into white oral lesions (n=3), and chronic oral ulcerative lesions (n=2) based on their clinical features. Additionally, five OSCC cases and five normal oral mucosa (NOM) samples were taken as positive and negative controls, respectively. Immunohistochemical staining was done to determine the qualitative and quantitative expression of PD-L1 using Image J software.

Results: There was 74% expression of PDL-1 in the OPMDs biopsy samples, 80% in OPMDs cytology samples, and 88% in the OSCC samples. A statistically significant difference was noted for PD-L1 expression between the OPMDs biopsy and OSCC groups (p-value=.013). However, this difference was insignificant in terms of cell count (p=0.47). Among OPDMs, the highest expression was seen in the Chronic oral ulcerative lesion among cytology (96%) samples and dysplasia (78%) among the biopsies.

Conclusion: Increased expression of PD-L1 in OPMDs suggests its role in immune-modulation and progression to malignancy. Therefore, it could serve as a predictive diagnostic marker for the malignant transformation of OPMDs.           

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Published

2026-06-30

How to Cite

Khattak, A., Baseer, N. ., Ali, K., & Safi, S. . (2026). EXPRESSION OF PROGRAMMED DEATH LIGAND-1 (PD-L1) IN ORAL POTENTIALLY MALIGNANT DISORDERS (OPMDS): A COMPARATIVE IMMUNOHISTOCHEMICAL STUDY. JOURNAL OF KHYBER COLLEGE OF DENTISTRY, 16(02), 20–26. https://doi.org/10.33279/jkcd.v16i02.967

Issue

Vol. 16 No. 02 (2026): Journal of Khyber College of Dentistry

Section

Original Article

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Copyright (c) 2026 Ammara Khattak, Najma Baseer, Khurshid Ali, Sana Safi

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