['The influence of neoadjuvant radiochemotherapy (RCT) on programmed death-ligand 1 (PD-L1) expression, a predictive marker for programmed cell death protein 1 (PD-1) inhibitor therapy, was studied on tumour and inflammatory cells in rectal adenocarcinoma patients along with its prognostic value.', 'PD-L1 immunohistochemistry was performed on tissue microarrays of 103 pre-RCT biopsies and 159 post-RCT surgical specimens (central tumour, invasive front and normal tissue) of 199 patients. In 63 patients, both samples were available. Proportion and maximum intensity of PD-L1-positive (PD-L1+) cells were evaluated.', "RCT increased the proportion of PD-L1-expressing cancer cells from 2.1% to 7.8% in the central tumour (p\xa0<\xa00.001) or 9.3% in the invasive front (p\xa0<\xa00.001). Cancer cell PD-L1 on its own could not predict prognosis. High PD-L1 expression on pre-RCT inflammatory cells (maximum intensity: p\xa0=\xa00.048) and post-RCT invasive front inflammatory cells (p\xa0=\xa00.010) correlated with improved no evidence of disease survival. In multivariate analysis, the combination of low PD-L1 in cancer and inflammatory cells was an independent negative prognostic marker for overall survival (OS) pre-RCT (Cox's proportional hazard ratio 0.438, p\xa0=\xa00.045) and in the invasive front post-RCT (Cox's proportional hazard ratio 0.257, p\xa0=\xa00.030)."] Is pD-L1 upregulated by radiochemotherapy in rectal adenocarcinoma patients and associated with a favourable prognosis?