Challenges and unanswered questions for the next decade of immune-oncology research in NSCLC

Over the last 20 years there have been great advances in the treatment of lung cancer. Immune checkpoint blockade together with targeted therapies have provided oncologists with the means to improve survival of non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) and patients with a better quality of life and therapies with manageable toxicity. Maybe in a short period of time the possibility of a cure in metastatic NSCLC will be raised. Therefore, continued research into new drugs, biomarkers and especially combination therapies is necessary in order to expand the clinical benefit of the current treatments to a broader population of NSCLC patients. The purpose of our review is to highlight our thoughts about potential mechanisms of resistance to immunotherapy that, if better explored, can provide us with both biomarkers to predict response to these therapies and partners to combine with and prolong the benefit of immune checkpoint blockade. We are presenting our own experience of immunotherapy with a case report from our institution.