Combination immune checkpoint inhibitors with platinum-based chemotherapy in advanced non-small cell lung cancer: what’s known and what’s next

Immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICIs) that target programmed cell death protein 1 (PD-1) and its ligand (PD-L1) have revolutionized the treatment paradigm for patients with advanced or metastatic non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) (1). Yet, only a minority of patients could derive clinical benefit from anti-PD-1/PD-L1 antibody monotherapy (2). Both scientists and physicians aimed to enhance the therapeutic efficacy and expand benefit populations via investigating the rational combination therapeutic strategies and predictive biomarkers (2-6). Since chemotherapy could elicit anticancer immunity via release of potentially immunogenic tumor antigens (7,8), combination of anti-PD-1/PD-L1 antibodies with chemotherapy is one of the most anticipated strategy in this field.