Battling Non-Small Cell Lung Carcinoma: Applying Biomarkers Testing to Pick the Best Immune Checkpoint Inhibitors Therapy

Abstract

Immune checkpoint inhibitors is a new treatment for Non-Small Cell Lung Carcinoma.  Benefit from such ICI therapy, however, have been enjoyed by a minority of NSCLC patients, and durable clinical outcomes are scarce. Thus, identifying reliable biomarkers to predict patients’ possible response, and to indicate the progression status of tumors to further refine ICIs’ application in treating NSCLCs is of decisive importance. However, as ICIs are novel therapies applied for only a decade, long-term post-treatment follow-ups are scant, and the probing or detection methods for biomarkers may not be as reliable as believed. Thus, many of the biomarkers require further investigations to elucidate their exact role in varying NSCLC microenvironments. Based on previously established results and integrating updated clinical data, this review lists the 2 currently accepted ICI therapeutic regimens, presents their respective mechanisms of action and their corresponding predictive or prognostic biomarkers currently available. This systematic categorization of biomarkers to respective therapies may inform clinicians about the use of ICI therapies and raise their attention to emerging and established biomarkers in new treatment strategies.