Immunotherapy for Uterine Cervical Cancer Using Checkpoint Inhibitors: Future Directions

Immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICIs) have demonstrated marked clinical effects worldwide, and "cancer immunotherapy" has been recognized as a feasible option for cancer treatment. Significant treatment responses have already been attained for malignant melanoma and lung cancer, ahead of gynecologic cancer. In cervical cancer, however, results are only available from phase II trials, not from phase III trials. Cervical cancer is a malignant tumor and is the fourth most common cancer among women worldwide. Since the introduction of angiogenesis inhibitors, treatment for recurrent and advanced cervical cancers has improved in the past five years, but median overall survival is 16.8 months for advanced cervical cancer, and all-stage five-year overall survival rate is 68%, indicating that treatment effects remain inadequate. For this reason, the development of new therapeutic approaches is imperative. We describe herein the KEYNOTE-158 and CheckMate 358 clinical trials, which were conducted for cervical cancer, and discuss future directions, including potential combinations with concurrent chemoradiation therapy (CCRT), as noted for other types of cancer.