{"entity":{"id":"pd-l1-testing","kind":"term","name":"PD-L1 expression testing (22C3, SP142, SP263)","aka":["PD-L1 expression","PD-L1-positive","PD-L1 positive","PD-L1-negative","PD-L1 negative","PD-L1-high","PD-L1 high","PD-L1-low","PD-L1 status","PD-L1 IHC","22C3","SP142","SP263","28-8","PD-L1 ≥50%","PD-L1 ≥1%"],"tldr":"A stain on the tumour biopsy that measures how much of the PD-L1 'don't attack me' protein is present, scored as a tumour proportion or combined positive score. Higher levels usually mean checkpoint inhibitors work better, and approvals in lung, triple-negative breast, gastric and head and neck cancer set minimum scores; yet PD-L1-negative tumours sometimes respond.","summary":"Several antibody clones (22C3 for pembrolizumab, SP142 for atezolizumab, SP263 for durvalumab, 28-8 for nivolumab) and scoring systems (tumour proportion score, combined positive score, immune cell score) are in use and are only partly interchangeable (Blueprint project), which complicates practice. PD-L1 ≥50% TPS in lung cancer permits pembrolizumab alone; CPS ≥10 gates pembrolizumab in triple-negative breast and CPS ≥1 or ≥5 in gastric and head and neck cancer. It is an imperfect biomarker: PD-L1-negative tumours sometimes respond and expression is heterogeneous and changes with treatment.","asOf":"2026-09-09","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PD-L1","links":[{"label":"Wikipedia","url":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PD-L1"}],"tags":[],"related":["cps","tmb","immuno-oncology"],"cancers":[],"sections":["immunotherapy","diagnostics"],"technologies":["checkpoint-inhibitor","histopathology-ihc","companion-diagnostic"],"targets":["pdl1"],"drugs":[],"companies":[],"institutions":[],"pathways":[],"terms":[],"trials":[],"people":[],"bottlenecks":[],"keyPapers":[],"journals":[],"dependsOn":[],"notes":[],"category":"Biomarkers"},"route":"/terms/pd-l1-testing/","neighbours":{"term":[{"id":"cps","kind":"term","name":"Combined positive score (CPS)","route":"/terms/cps/"},{"id":"immuno-oncology","kind":"term","name":"Immuno-oncology (IO) and checkpoint blockade","route":"/terms/immuno-oncology/"},{"id":"interferon-gamma-signature","kind":"term","name":"Interferon-gamma gene signature (T-cell-inflamed signature)","route":"/terms/interferon-gamma-signature/"},{"id":"lung-trials-open-today","kind":"term","name":"Lung cancer trials open today (registry snapshot)","route":"/terms/lung-trials-open-today/"},{"id":"lung-failed-programmes","kind":"term","name":"Lung cancer: the failed and stopped programmes, and why","route":"/terms/lung-failed-programmes/"},{"id":"stk11-keap1","kind":"term","name":"STK11 / KEAP1 co-mutations","route":"/terms/stk11-keap1/"},{"id":"subgroup-analysis","kind":"term","name":"Subgroup analysis (forest plots)","route":"/terms/subgroup-analysis/"},{"id":"tmb","kind":"term","name":"Tumour mutational burden (TMB)","route":"/terms/tmb/"}],"section":[{"id":"diagnostics","kind":"section","name":"Diagnostics & Biomarkers","route":"/fronts/diagnostics/"},{"id":"immunotherapy","kind":"section","name":"Immunotherapy","route":"/fronts/immunotherapy/"}],"technology":[{"id":"companion-diagnostic","kind":"technology","name":"Companion diagnostics","route":"/technologies/companion-diagnostic/"},{"id":"histopathology-ihc","kind":"technology","name":"Histopathology & immunohistochemistry","route":"/technologies/histopathology-ihc/"},{"id":"checkpoint-inhibitor","kind":"technology","name":"Immune checkpoint inhibitors","route":"/technologies/checkpoint-inhibitor/"}],"target":[{"id":"pdl1","kind":"target","name":"PD-L1","route":"/targets/pdl1/"}],"trial":[{"id":"checkmate-017","kind":"trial","name":"CheckMate 017","route":"/trials/checkmate-017/"},{"id":"checkmate-026","kind":"trial","name":"CheckMate 026","route":"/trials/checkmate-026/"},{"id":"checkmate-057","kind":"trial","name":"CheckMate 057","route":"/trials/checkmate-057/"},{"id":"empower-lung-1","kind":"trial","name":"EMPOWER-Lung 1","route":"/trials/empower-lung-1/"},{"id":"impower110","kind":"trial","name":"IMpower110","route":"/trials/impower110/"},{"id":"keynote-010","kind":"trial","name":"KEYNOTE-010","route":"/trials/keynote-010/"},{"id":"keynote-042","kind":"trial","name":"KEYNOTE-042","route":"/trials/keynote-042/"},{"id":"oak","kind":"trial","name":"OAK","route":"/trials/oak/"}],"paper":[{"id":"paper-keynote-001-pembrolizumab-nsclc-nejm-2015","kind":"paper","name":"KEYNOTE-001 (Garon 2015): pembrolizumab in non-small-cell lung cancer and the 50% PD-L1 cut-off","route":"/key-papers/paper-keynote-001-pembrolizumab-nsclc-nejm-2015/"}],"drug":[{"id":"dako-pd-l1-22c3-pharmdx","kind":"drug","name":"PD-L1 IHC 22C3 pharmDx","route":"/drugs/dako-pd-l1-22c3-pharmdx/"},{"id":"ventana-pd-l1-sp142","kind":"drug","name":"VENTANA PD-L1 (SP142) Assay","route":"/drugs/ventana-pd-l1-sp142/"},{"id":"ventana-pd-l1-sp263","kind":"drug","name":"VENTANA PD-L1 (SP263) Assay","route":"/drugs/ventana-pd-l1-sp263/"}],"biomarker":[{"id":"pd-l1-cps","kind":"biomarker","name":"PD-L1 CPS (combined positive score)","route":"/biomarkers/pd-l1-cps/"},{"id":"pd-l1-ic-score","kind":"biomarker","name":"PD-L1 IC score (immune-cell score, SP142)","route":"/biomarkers/pd-l1-ic-score/"},{"id":"pd-l1-tc-score","kind":"biomarker","name":"PD-L1 TC score (tumour-cell score, SP263 and 28-8)","route":"/biomarkers/pd-l1-tc-score/"},{"id":"pd-l1-tps","kind":"biomarker","name":"PD-L1 TPS (tumour proportion score)","route":"/biomarkers/pd-l1-tps/"}],"cancer":[{"id":"hpv-negative-head-and-neck-cancer","kind":"cancer","name":"HPV-negative head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (including HPV-negative oropharyngeal cancer)","route":"/cancers/hpv-negative-head-and-neck-cancer/"},{"id":"lung-cancer","kind":"cancer","name":"Lung cancer (all types)","route":"/cancers/lung-cancer/"},{"id":"mucoepidermoid-carcinoma","kind":"cancer","name":"Mucoepidermoid carcinoma","route":"/cancers/mucoepidermoid-carcinoma/"},{"id":"pdl1-high-nsclc","kind":"cancer","name":"PD-L1-high non-small-cell lung cancer without a driver mutation","route":"/cancers/pdl1-high-nsclc/"},{"id":"recurrent-metastatic-hnscc","kind":"cancer","name":"Recurrent or metastatic head and neck squamous cell carcinoma","route":"/cancers/recurrent-metastatic-hnscc/"}]}}