CD274 and colorectal cancer: Indeed, the intratumoral expression of PD-L1 in a cohort of 181 CRC patients was found to be positively associated with the mRNA levels of IFNG and its downstream signaling molecules JAK2 and STAT1, and, on a functional level, IFNγ was able to induce enhanced PD-L1 expression in human colorectal cancer cells, thus strongly suggesting its supportive impact on the tumor cell-driven initiation of immune escape mechanisms [68].