2019 Volume 65 Issue 5 Pages 444-450
Pharmacotherapy for advanced lung cancer, especially for non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) has progressed dramatically in past 10 years. The prognosis of patients with advanced NSCLC has improved immensely due to treatment with molecular target drugs and immune checkpoint inhibitors. Numerous clinical trials have shown that immunotherapy using immune checkpoint inhibitors is highly effective in the treatment of patients with advanced NSCLC. The 5-year survival rate is dismal in patients with advanced NSCLC treated with conventional cytotoxic chemotherapy. Alternatively, advanced NSCLC patients treated with nivolumab, an immune checkpoint inhibitor, have exhibited a 20% chance of survival for 5 years. However, immune checkpoint inhibitors are ineffective in many patients. Therefore, efforts have been taken to develop methods predicting the effects of immune checkpoint inhibitors and to explore new combination therapies using immune checkpoint inhibitors. Moreover, since immune checkpoint inhibitors may cause serious immune-related adverse events (e.g., pneumonitis, enterocolitis, encephalitis), it is important to develop methods that control these adverse events. More patients with lung cancer are expected to benefit from immunotherapies.
