Combination strategies with PD-1/PD-L1 blockade: current advances and future directions

🤖 Plain-English Summary

Antibodies targeting programmed cell death protein-1 (PD-1) or its ligand PD-L1 rescue T cells from exhausted status and revive immune response against cancer cells. Moreover, we focused on the advances of α-PD-1/PD-L1-based immunomodulatory strategies in clinical studies.

🔑 Key Findings

• Based on the immense success in clinical trials, ten α-PD-1 (nivolumab, pembrolizumab, cemiplimab, sintilimab, camrelizumab, toripalimab, tislelizumab, zimberelimab, prolgolimab, and dostarlimab) and three α-PD-L1 antibodies (atezolizumab, durvalumab, and avelumab) have been approved for various types of cancers.
• Nevertheless, the low response rate of α-PD-1/PD-L1 therapy remains to be resolved.
• For most cancer patients, PD-1/PD-L1 pathway is not the sole speed-limiting factor of antitumor immunity, and it is insufficient to motivate effective antitumor immune response by blocking PD-1/PD-L1 axis.

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