Extracellular granzyme K enhances PD-L1 transcription and stability via F2RL1 activation to facilitate tumor immune evasion in lung adenocarcinoma

Background <p>Granzyme K (GZMK) is a serine protease known for its perforin-dependent cytotoxicity. However, the non-cytotoxic role of GZMK in lung adenocarcinoma (LUAD) remains largely elusive.</p> Methods <p>Multiomics datasets were integrated to investigate the clinical relevance of GZMK and its association with programmed death-ligand 1 (PD-L1) in LUAD. Recombinant human GZMK (rhGzmK) was applied in tumor-CD8⁺ T cell co-culture systems,…