Immune Checkpoint Inhibitors in Cancer Therapy

🤖 Plain-English Summary

The discovery of immune checkpoint proteins such as PD-1/PDL-1 and CTLA-4 represents a significant breakthrough in the field of cancer immunotherapy. Unfortunately, not all patients respond favourably to these drugs, highlighting the role of biomarkers such as Tumour mutation burden (TMB), PDL-1 expression, microbiome, hypoxia, interferon-γ, and ECM in predicting responses to ICIs-based immunotherapy.

🔑 Key Findings

• Therefore, humanized monoclonal antibodies, targeting these immune checkpoint proteins have been utilized successfully in patients with metastatic melanoma, renal cell carcinoma, head and neck cancers and non-small lung cancer.
• The US FDA has successfully approved three different categories of immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICIs) such as PD-1 inhibitors (Nivolumab, Pembrolizumab, and Cemiplimab), PDL-1 inhibitors (Atezolimumab, Durvalumab and Avelumab), and CTLA-4 inhibitor (Ipilimumab).
• Unfortunately, not all patients respond favourably to these drugs, highlighting the role of biomarkers such as Tumour mutation burden (TMB), PDL-1 expression, microbiome, hypoxia, interferon-γ, and ECM in predicting responses to ICIs-based immunotherapy.

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