Biomarkers for Immune Checkpoint Inhibitor-Mediated Tumor Response and Adverse Events

Abstract

In the last decade, inhibitors targeting immune checkpoint molecules such as cytotoxic T-lymphocyte antigen 4 (CTLA-4), programmed cell death 1 (PD-1), and programmed cell death-ligand 1 (PD-L1) brought about a major paradigm shift in cancer treatment. These immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICIs) improved the overall survival of a variety of cancer such as malignant melanoma and non-small lung cancer. In addition, numerous clinical trials for additional indication of ICIs including adjuvant and neo-adjuvant therapies are also currently ongoing. Therefore, more and more patients will receive ICIs in the future. However, despite the improved outcome of the cancer treatment by ICIs, the efficacy remains still limited and tumor regression have not been obtained in many cancer patients. In addition, treatment with ICIs is also associated with substantial toxicities, described as immune-related adverse events (irAEs). Therefore, biomarkers to predict tumor response and occurrence of irAEs by the treatment with ICIs are required to avoid overtreatment of ICIs and minimize irAEs development. Whereas, numerous factors have been reported as potential biomarkers for tumor response to ICIs, factors for predicting irAE have been less reported. In this review, we show recent advances in the understanding of biomarkers for tumor response and occurrence of irAEs in cancer patients treated with ICIs.

Keywords: CTLA- 4; PD-1; adverse event (AE); immune check point inhibitor; tumor response.