Programmed death-ligand 1 expression and its associations with clinicopathological features, prognosis, and driver oncogene alterations in surgically resected lung adenocarcinoma

Recently, immunotherapies have marked a revolution in the treatment of lung cancer, especially the use of monoclonal antibodies targeting programmed death-1/programmed death-ligand 1 (PD-1/PD-L1) [1 –5]. The PD-1/PD-L1 axis is a major immune checkpoint signaling pathway. The interaction of PD-1 with PD-L1 inhibits T-cell activation, allowing tumor cells to bypass immune surveillance [6,7]. Therefore, blockade of the PD-1/PD-L1 axis enhances the activation of the immune response against tumors . Objective response rates of approximately 20% have been reported in clinical trials of second-line treatment with PD-1/PD-L1 inhibitors in patients with non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) [2,3,8]; the most intriguing finding is that the effects were durable in these patients [9,10].

Source: Lung Cancer - September 19, 2021 Category: Cancer & Oncology Authors: Kazuya Takamochi, Kieko Hara, Takuo Hayashi, Shinji Kohsaka, Fumiyuki Takahashi, Yoshiyuki Suehara, Kenji Suzuki Source Type: research