Abstract: Peripheral T-cell lymphomas (PTCLs) are a group of highly heterogeneous and aggressive non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma (NHL). PTCL patients have poor prognosis and high rates of relapse under the current chemotherapy-based treatment. Therefore, new drugs should be developed to improve the prognosis of PTCL. Tumor microenvironment (TME) plays an important role in many tumors. Programmed death-1 (PD-1)/programmed death ligand-1 (PD-L1) signaling pathway is one of the most important pathways involved in tumor immune escape. Inhibitors of the PD-1/PD-L1 pathway have exhibited remarkable effects in the treatment of multiple tumors and have broad application prospects in PTCL. Studies have found varying degrees of expressions of PD-1 and its ligands in multiple PTCL subtypes, and the PD-1 inhibitor has significant efficacy in some subtypes. In this paper, we reviewed the expression of PD-1/PD-L1 in PTCL and the therapeutic role of its inhibitors.

Key words: Peripheral T-cell lymphomas, Programmed death-1, Programmed death ligand-1, Immune checkpoint