Immunotherapy in Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer: Facts and Hopes

Immune-checkpoint inhibitors (ICI), particularly inhibitors of the PD-1 axis, have altered the management of non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) over the last 10 years. First demonstrated to improve outcomes in second-line or later therapy of advanced disease, ICIs were shown to improve overall survival compared with chemotherapy in first-line therapy for patients whose tumors express PD-L1 on at least 50% of cells. More recently, combining ICIs with chemotherapy has been shown to improve survival in patients with both squamous and nonsquamous NSCLC, regardless of PD-L1 expression. However, PD-L1 and, more recently, tumor mutational burden have not proven to be straightforward indicative biomarkers. We describe the advances to date in utilizing these biomarkers, as well as novel markers of tumor inflammation, to ascertain which patients are most likely to benefit from ICIs. Ongoing translational work promises to improve the proportion of patients who benefit from these agents.