PD-L2 amplification and durable disease stabilization in patient with urothelial carcinoma receiving pembrolizumab

We report the immunological profile of a patient with upper-tract urothelial carcinoma experiencing stable disease on pembrolizumab for 20 months. The tumor exhibited extensive infiltration by CD8(+) cytotoxic T lymphocytes, low-to-moderate mutational burden, no PD-L1 staining by commercially available immunohistochemical assays, but amplification of CD274 (coding for PD-L1) and/or PDCD1LG2 (encoding PD-L2) by fluorescence in situ hybridization. RNA-seq revealed multiple biomarkers of an ongoing immune response and compensatory immune evasion, including moderate PD-L1 levels coupled with robust PD-L2 expression. Pending validation in additional patients, these findings suggest that PD-L2 expression levels may constitute a biomarker of response to immune checkpoint blockade in urothelial carcinoma.