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Review
. 2014 Aug;85(2):101-9.
doi: 10.1016/j.lungcan.2014.05.005. Epub 2014 May 14.

Immunotherapy in the treatment of non-small cell lung cancer

Raghav Sundar  1 , Richie Soong  2 , Byoung-Chul Cho  3 , Julie R Brahmer  4 , Ross A Soo  5
Affiliations
Review

Immunotherapy in the treatment of non-small cell lung cancer

Raghav Sundar et al. Lung Cancer. 2014 Aug.

Abstract

Advances in the understanding of the role of the immune system in tumor immunosurveillance have resulted in the recognition that tumors can evade immune destruction via the dysregulation of co-inhibitory or checkpoint signals. This has led to the development of a generation immunotherapeutic agents targeting the immune checkpoint pathway. Recent early phase studies of immune checkpoint modulators, such as CTLA-4, PD-1 and PD-L1 inhibitors in NSCLC have reported promising results with prolonged clinical responses and tolerable toxicity. This article provides an overview of co-stimulatory and inhibitory molecules that regulate the immune response to tumors, recent therapies that have been developed to exploit these interactions and the role of predictive biomarkers in treatment selection.

Keywords: CTLA-4; Immunotherapy; Ipilimumab; Nivolumab; Non-small cell lung cancer; PD-L1.

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Conflict of interest statement

Conflict of interest statement

Byoung-Chul Cho has received honoraria from AstraZeneca, Pfizer, Boehringer-Ingelheim, GSK, and Novartis; research grants from AstraZeneca, Novartis, Bayer, Boehringer-Ingelheim. Julie R. Brahmer is an uncompensated advisory board member for BMS, is an advisory board member for Merck, and her institution has received a BMS research grant. Ross Soo has received honoraria from Astra-Zeneca, Roche, Norvatis and Boehringer-Ingelheim. Raghav Sundar and Richie Soong have no conflict of interest.

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