title: Precision medicine in immune checkpoint blockade therapy for non-small cell lung cancer.
abstract: Immune checkpoint blockade therapy by targeting the programmed death protein 1/programmed death ligand 1 (PD-L1) axis using antibodies has yielded promising clinical responses in patients with non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). However, owing to the dynamic expression of PD-L1, degree of mutational/neoantigen load, intratumoral heterogeneity, infiltrated immune cells of tumor microenvironment of NSCLC, the response rates to these agents are limited, despite several companion diagnostic assays by detecting PD-L1 in tumor cells have been introduced into clinical practice. Therefore, in this era of precision medicine, there is an urgent need for predictive biomarkers to identify NSCLC patients likely to benefit from this novel therapy.
authors.affiliation: Human Stem Cell Institute, General Hospital, Ningxia Medical University, Yinchuan, 750004, Ningxia, China. liuxiaoming@nxmu.edu.cn.
authors.forename: Xiaoming
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.affiliation: Department of Clinical Oncology, Queen Elizabeth Hospital, Kowloon, Hong Kong. chocs@ha.org.hk.
authors.forename: William C
authors.initials: WC
authors.lastname: Cho
keywords: Atezolizumab (Tecentriq); Immune checkpoint blockade; Nivolumab (Opdivo); Non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC); PD-1; PD-L1; Pembrolizumab (Keytruda); Precision medicine