{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,6,17]],"date-time":"2026-06-17T16:06:44Z","timestamp":1781712404163,"version":"3.54.5"},"reference-count":15,"publisher":"Frontiers Media SA","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2025,8,14]],"date-time":"2025-08-14T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1755129600000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"content-domain":{"domain":["frontiersin.org"],"crossmark-restriction":true},"short-container-title":["Front. Immunol."],"abstract":"<jats:sec><jats:title>Background<\/jats:title><jats:p>Intrahepatic cholangiocarcinoma (ICC) typically exhibits poor responsiveness to immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICIs) due to its microsatellite-stable (MSS) status and low tumor mutational burden (TMB). Conventional biomarkers like PD-L1 expression show limited predictive value, creating an urgent need for novel therapeutic targets in this aggressive malignancy.<\/jats:p><\/jats:sec><jats:sec><jats:title>Case presentation<\/jats:title><jats:p>We describe a stage IV ICC patient with PD-L1 positivity and a somatic KMT2D mutation (p.R5303C) who attained sustained complete remission after pembrolizumab treatment, despite developing severe multi-organ immune-related adverse events (irAEs) including hepatitis, pneumonitis, and thrombocytopenia. Mechanistic analysis revealed that KMT2D deficiency potentially remodeled the tumor immune microenvironment through epigenetic reprogramming, characterized by enhanced CD8+ T-cell infiltration.<\/jats:p><\/jats:sec><jats:sec><jats:title>Conclusions<\/jats:title><jats:p>Our findings advocate for combinatorial biomarker strategies incorporating epigenetic markers (KMT2D status) with PD-L1 expression to optimize ICI patient selection, while highlighting the need for vigilant toxicity monitoring in this subset.<\/jats:p><\/jats:sec>","DOI":"10.3389\/fimmu.2025.1616361","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2025,8,14]],"date-time":"2025-08-14T05:35:32Z","timestamp":1755149732000},"update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3389\/crossmark-policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":2,"title":["Lysine methyltransferase 2D deficiency drives complete response to pembrolizumab in PD-L1-High cholangiocarcinoma: a case report and review of literature"],"prefix":"10.3389","volume":"16","author":[{"given":"Xiaofang","family":"Li","sequence":"first","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Liao","family":"Wang","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Shuang","family":"Li","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"1965","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2025,8,14]]},"reference":[{"key":"B1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1038\/s41571-022-00600-w","article-title":"Immune-checkpoint inhibitors: long-term implications of toxicity","volume":"19","author":"Johnson","year":"2022","journal-title":"Nat Rev Clin Oncol"},{"key":"B2","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1016\/s1470-2045(21)00409-5","article-title":"Addition of ramucirumab or merestinib to standard first-line chemotherapy for locally advanced or metastatic biliary tract cancer: a randomised, double-blind, multicentre, phase 2 study","volume":"22","author":"Valle","year":"2021","journal-title":"Lancet Oncol"},{"key":"B3","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1200\/jco.2017.75.5009","article-title":"Phase II study of BGJ398 in patients with FGFR-altered advanced cholangiocarcinoma","volume":"36","author":"Javle","year":"2018","journal-title":"J Clin Oncol: Off J Am Soc Clin Oncol"},{"key":"B4","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"2854","DOI":"10.3390\/jcm9092854","article-title":"Molecular profiling in daily clinical practice: practicalities in advanced cholangiocarcinoma and other biliary tract cancers","volume":"9","author":"Lamarca","year":"2020","journal-title":"J Clin Med"},{"key":"B5","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"15","DOI":"10.1186\/s12943-023-01930-8","article-title":"Mutation status of the KMT2 family associated with immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICIs) therapy and implicating diverse tumor microenvironments","volume":"23","author":"Wang","year":"2024","journal-title":"Mol Cancer"},{"key":"B6","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1111\/cas.15716","article-title":"Association of KMT2C\/D loss-of-function variants with response to immune checkpoint blockades in colorectal cancer","volume":"114","author":"Liu","year":"2023","journal-title":"Cancer Sci"},{"key":"B7","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1158\/2159-8290.Cd-19-1448","article-title":"CRISPR-GEMM pooled mutagenic screening identifies KMT2D as a major modulator of immune checkpoint blockade","volume":"10","author":"Wang","year":"2020","journal-title":"Cancer Discov"},{"key":"B8","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"69","DOI":"10.1016\/j.jhep.2015.08.018","article-title":"High-volume plasma exchange in patients with acute liver failure: An open randomised controlled trial","volume":"64","author":"Larsen","year":"2016","journal-title":"J Hepatol"},{"key":"B9","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1189\/jlb.3VMA0315-078R","article-title":"Intravenous immunoglobulin skews macrophages to an anti-inflammatory, IL-10-producing activation state","volume":"98","author":"Kozicky","year":"2015","journal-title":"J Leukocyte Biol"},{"key":"B10","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1200\/jco.21.01440","article-title":"Management of immune-related adverse events in patients treated with immune checkpoint inhibitor therapy: ASCO guideline update","volume":"39","author":"Schneider","year":"2021","journal-title":"J Clin Oncol: Off J Am Soc Clin Oncol"},{"key":"B11","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"71","DOI":"10.1186\/s40364-020-00241-0","article-title":"KMT2A\/C mutations function as a potential predictive biomarker for immunotherapy in solid tumors","volume":"8","author":"Zhang","year":"2020","journal-title":"biomark Res"},{"key":"B12","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1158\/1078-0432.Ccr-23-3296","article-title":"Tissue-resident T cells in clinical response and immune-related adverse events of immune checkpoint blockade","volume":"30","author":"Zhao","year":"2024","journal-title":"Clin Cancer Res: An Off J Am Assoc Cancer Res"},{"key":"B13","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"39","DOI":"10.1186\/s13045-021-01050-0","article-title":"Genomic alterations in KMT2 family predict outcome of immune checkpoint therapy in multiple cancers","volume":"14","author":"Zhang","year":"2021","journal-title":"J Hematol Oncol"},{"key":"B14","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1097\/cad.0000000000001546","article-title":"Successful immunotherapy with PD-1 Iinhibitor for advanced pancreatic cancer: report of two cases and review of literature","volume":"35","author":"Qiu","year":"2024","journal-title":"Anti-cancer Drugs"},{"key":"B15","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"83","DOI":"10.2174\/1386207325666220221092318","article-title":"Pan-cancer analysis of histone methyltransferase KMT2D with potential implications for prognosis and immunotherapy in human cancer","volume":"26","author":"Chen","year":"2023","journal-title":"Combinatorial Chem High Throughput Screening"}],"container-title":["Frontiers in Immunology"],"original-title":[],"link":[{"URL":"https:\/\/www.frontiersin.org\/articles\/10.3389\/fimmu.2025.1616361\/full","content-type":"unspecified","content-version":"vor","intended-application":"similarity-checking"}],"deposited":{"date-parts":[[2025,8,14]],"date-time":"2025-08-14T05:35:33Z","timestamp":1755149733000},"score":1,"resource":{"primary":{"URL":"https:\/\/www.frontiersin.org\/articles\/10.3389\/fimmu.2025.1616361\/full"}},"subtitle":[],"short-title":[],"issued":{"date-parts":[[2025,8,14]]},"references-count":15,"alternative-id":["10.3389\/fimmu.2025.1616361"],"URL":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3389\/fimmu.2025.1616361","relation":{},"ISSN":["1664-3224"],"issn-type":[{"value":"1664-3224","type":"electronic"}],"subject":[],"published":{"date-parts":[[2025,8,14]]},"article-number":"1616361"}}