Immunotherapy has transformed the treatment landscape for non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC), offering new hope, particularly for patients with advanced disease. Unlike traditional treatments like chemotherapy, which directly target cancer cells, immunotherapy works by boosting the body’s immune system to recognize and attack cancer.
Checkpoint inhibitors, a key class of immunotherapy drugs, have shown remarkable success in NSCLC. These drugs, such as pembrolizumab and nivolumab, target proteins like PD-1 and PD-L1 that cancer cells use to evade the immune system. By blocking these proteins, immunotherapy unleashes the immune system to attack and destroy the cancer cells.
For patients with advanced or metastatic NSCLC, immunotherapy can be used as a first-line treatment, either alone or in combination with chemotherapy. Clinical trials have demonstrated significant improvements in overall survival and progression-free survival compared to traditional therapies. Notably, patients with high levels of PD-L1 expression tend to respond particularly well to immunotherapy.
Moreover, immunotherapy is increasingly being explored for earlier stages of NSCLC, including as adjuvant treatment after surgery or in combination with other treatments for locally advanced disease. While not all patients respond to immunotherapy, ongoing research aims to identify biomarkers that can predict which patients are most likely to benefit, further refining its role in NSCLC treatment.