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Review
. 2017 Dec;17(6):378-391.
doi: 10.4110/in.2017.17.6.378. Epub 2017 Nov 24.

Immunotherapy for Non-small-cell Lung Cancer: Current Status and Future Obstacles

Ju Hwan Cho  1
Affiliations
Review

Immunotherapy for Non-small-cell Lung Cancer: Current Status and Future Obstacles

Ju Hwan Cho. Immune Netw. 2017 Dec.

Abstract

Lung cancer is one of the leading causes of death worldwide. There are 2 major subtypes of lung cancer, non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC) and small-cell lung cancer (SCLC). Studies show that NSCLC is the more prevalent type of lung cancer that accounts for approximately 80%-85% of cases. Although, various treatment methods, such as chemotherapy, surgery, and radiation therapy have been used to treat lung cancer patients, there is an emergent need to develop more effective approaches to deal with advanced stages of tumors. Recently, immunotherapy has emerged as a new approach to combat with such tumors. The development and success of programmed cell death 1 (PD-1)/program death-ligand 1 (PD-L1) inhibitors and cytotoxic T-lymphocyte antigen 4 (CTLA-4) blockades in treating metastatic cancers opens a new pavement for the future research. The current mini review discusses the significance of immune checkpoint inhibitors in promoting the death of tumor cells. Additionally, this review also addresses the importance of tumor-specific antigens (neoantigens) in the development of cancer vaccines and major challenges associated with this therapy. Immunotherapy can be a promising approach to treat NSCLC because it stimulates host's own immune system to recognize cancer cells. Therefore, future research should focus on the development of new methodologies to identify novel checkpoint inhibitors and potential neoantigens.

Keywords: Immune checkpoint blockade; Immunotherapy; Lung cancer; NSCLC; Neoantigen-specific vaccines.

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Conflict of interest statement

Conflict of Interest: The author declares no potential conflicts of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Immunoediting (immune escaping) mechanism. TGF-β, transforming growth factor-β; VEGF, vascular endothelial growth factor; IDO, indoleamine-pyrrole 2,3-dioxygenase; MDSC, myeloid-derived suppressor cell.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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