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Review
. 2022 Jun 6;11(11):3245.
doi: 10.3390/jcm11113245.

Blood Biomarkers of Response to Immune Checkpoint Inhibitors in Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer

Yolanda Lage Alfranca  1 , María Eugenia Olmedo Garcia  1 , Ana Gómez Rueda  1 , Pablo Álvarez Ballesteros  1 , Diana Rosero Rodríguez  1 , Marisa Torres Velasco  1
Affiliations
Review

Blood Biomarkers of Response to Immune Checkpoint Inhibitors in Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer

Yolanda Lage Alfranca et al. J Clin Med. .

Abstract

Immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICIs) have revolutionized the treatment landscape of non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC), either used in monotherapy or in combination with chemotherapy. While some patients achieve durable responses, some will not get benefit from this treatment. Early identification of non- responder patients could avoid unnecessary treatment, potentially serious immune-related adverse events and reduce treatment costs. PD-L1 expression using immunohistochemistry is the only approved biomarker for the selection of patients that can benefit from immunotherapy. However, application of PD-L1 as a biomarker of treatment efficacy shows many deficiencies probably due to the complexity of the tumor microenvironment and the technical limitations of the samples. Thus, there is an urgent need to find other biomarkers, ideally blood biomarkers to help us to identify different subgroups of patients in a minimal invasive way. In this review, we summarize the emerging blood-based markers that could help to predict the response to ICIs in NSCLC.

Keywords: blood biomarker; immunotherapy; non-small cell lung cancer.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Potential blood biomarkers of clinical benefit in NSCLC patients treated with immunotherapy.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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