%0 Journal Article %T Chemotherapy-induced high expression of IL23A enhances efficacy of anti-PD-1 therapy in TNBC by co-activating the PI3K-AKT signaling pathway of CTLs. %A Pan F %A Liu J %A Chen Y %A Zhu B %A Chen W %A Yang Y %A Zhu C %A Zhao H %A Liu X %A Xu Y %A Xu X %A Huo L %A Xie L %A Wang R %A Gu J %A Huang G %J Sci Rep %V 14 %N 1 %D 2024 06 20 %M 38902343 %F 4.996 %R 10.1038/s41598-024-65129-7 %X Treatment of advanced triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC) is a great challenge in clinical practice. The immune checkpoints are a category of immunosuppressive molecules that cancer could hijack and impede anti-tumor immunity. Targeting immune checkpoints, such as anti-programmed cell death 1 (PD-1) therapy, is a promising therapeutic strategy in TNBC. The efficacy and safety of PD-1 monoclonal antibody (mAb) with chemotherapy have been validated in TNBC patients. However, the precise mechanisms underlying the synergistic effect of chemotherapy and anti-PD-1 therapy have not been elucidated, causing the TNBC patients that might benefit from this combination regimen not to be well selected. In the present work, we found that IL-23, an immunological cytokine, is significantly upregulated after chemotherapy in TNBC cells and plays a vital role in enhancing the anti-tumor immune response of cytotoxic T cells (CTLs), especially in combination with PD-1 mAb. In addition, the combination of IL-23 and PD-1 mAb could synergistically inhibit the expression of Phosphoinositide-3-Kinase Regulatory Subunit 1 (PIK3R1), which is a regulatory subunit of PI3K and inhibit p110 activity, and promote phosphorylation of AKT in TNBC-specific CTLs. Our findings might provide a molecular marker that could be used to predict the effects of combination chemotherapy therapy and PD-1 mAb in TNBC.