Problems and prospects of PD-1/PD-L1 inhibitors

Abstract

The current gold standard for monotherapy or combination therapy for patients with advanced cancer is programmed death ligand 1 (PD-L1) and receptor 1 (PD-1) inhibitors, which are typical immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICI). Rarely do therapeutic responses of cancer treatment have the breadth, depth, and tenacity that drugs based on PD-1 do. The distinctions in effectiveness and toxicity of PD-1/PD-L1 inhibitors have drawn much interest since a number of solid tumors were authorized for treatment with PD-1/PD-L1 inhibitors. However, the drug resistance and prediction of PD-1 inhibitory therapy has troubled the patients when it comes to selecting the most suitable treatment scheme. Plus, the mAbs are not perfect drugs for some inevitable defects in physical and chemical properties. Exploring the structure of PD-1/PD-L1 inhibitors has to be done more. It goes without saying that focused attention should be given to the improved PD-1/PD-L1 inhibitors' structural design and enhancing ways of medication efficacy in order to improve PD-1-based immunotherapy for cancer treatment. For instance, the pharmaceutical industry anticipates that combining PD-1 inhibitors with other medicines to improve response rates would be a future research focus. Appropriate clinical biomarkers should be developed to refine the PD-1 inhibitor response population. As a result, here the basic structure and mechanisms of PD-1/PD-L1 inhibitors were concluded. The shortcomings and prospects of inhibiting PD-1 treatment are also covered.