Review
Copyright ©The Author(s) 2024. Published by Baishideng Publishing Group Inc. All rights reserved.
World J Gastroenterol. Aug 21, 2024; 30(31): 3654-3667
Published online Aug 21, 2024. doi: 10.3748/wjg.v30.i31.3654
B7 homolog 3 in pancreatic cancer
Dijana Perovic, Marija Dusanovic Pjevic, Vladimir Perovic, Milka Grk, Milica Rasic, Maja Milickovic, Tanja Mijovic, Petar Rasic
Dijana Perovic, Marija Dusanovic Pjevic, Milka Grk, Milica Rasic, Institute of Human Genetics, Faculty of Medicine, University of Belgrade, Belgrade 11000, Serbia
Vladimir Perovic, Institute of Microbiology and Immunology, Faculty of Medicine, University of Belgrade, Belgrade 11000, Serbia
Maja Milickovic, Tanja Mijovic, Petar Rasic, Department of Abdominal Surgery, Mother and Child Health Care Institute of Serbia “Dr. Vukan Cupic”, Belgrade 11000, Serbia
Maja Milickovic, Faculty of Medicine, University of Belgrade, Belgrade 11000, Serbia
Author contributions: Perovic D, Dusanovic Pjevic M, Perovic V, Grk M, Rasic M, Milickovic M, Mijovic T, and Rasic P conducted the literature search and drafted the manuscript; Rasic P designed the project and revised the article; All authors approved the final manuscript and agreed to be accountable for all aspects of the work.
Conflict-of-interest statement: All the authors report no relevant conflicts of interest for this article.
Open-Access: This article is an open-access article that was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution NonCommercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Corresponding author: Petar Rasic, MD, Surgeon, Department of Abdominal Surgery, Mother and Child Health Care Institute of Serbia “Dr. Vukan Cupic”, Radoja Dakica 6-8, Belgrade 11000, Serbia. perasrv@yahoo.com
Received: May 28, 2024
Revised: July 24, 2024
Accepted: August 6, 2024
Published online: August 21, 2024
Processing time: 76 Days and 17.1 Hours
Abstract

Despite advances in cancer treatment, pancreatic cancer (PC) remains a disease with high mortality rates and poor survival outcomes. The B7 homolog 3 (B7-H3) checkpoint molecule is overexpressed among many malignant tumors, including PC, with low or absent expression in healthy tissues. By modulating various immunological and nonimmunological molecular mechanisms, B7-H3 may influence the progression of PC. However, the impact of B7-H3 on the survival of patients with PC remains a subject of debate. Still, most available scientific data recognize this molecule as a suppressive factor to antitumor immunity in PC. Furthermore, it has been demonstrated that B7-H3 stimulates the migration, invasion, and metastasis of PC cells, and enhances resistance to chemotherapy. In preclinical models of PC, B7-H3-targeting monoclonal antibodies have exerted profound antitumor effects by increasing natural killer cell-mediated antibody-dependent cellular cytotoxicity and delivering radioisotopes and cytotoxic drugs to the tumor site. Finally, PC treatment with B7-H3-targeting antibody-drug conjugates and chimeric antigen receptor T cells is being tested in clinical studies. This review provides a comprehensive analysis of all PC-related studies in the context of B7-H3 and points to deficiencies in the current data that should be overcome by future research.

Keywords: B7 homolog 3; Pancreatic cancer; Prognosis; Signaling pathways; Immunotherapy

Core Tip: Mortality rates of pancreatic cancer (PC) indicate that we are facing a severe illness characterized by poor survival outcomes. Despite the improvements achieved in the treatment of other types of cancer, the survival of patients with PC is still disappointing. The B7 homolog 3 (B7-H3) checkpoint molecule seems to be a promising immunotherapeutic target since it plays an important role in the progression and antitumor immunity of various cancers. In this review, we analyze the results of different studies related to the role of B7-H3 in PC and discuss its potential to be used as a target in future therapy.