Immunotherapy for non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) is incorporated increasingly in first line treatments protocols. Multiple phase 3 studies have tested different medications targeting programmed death receptor 1 (PD-1), programmed death-ligand 1 (PD-L1), cytotoxic T-lymphocyte-associated protein 4 (CTLA-4), with or without chemotherapy. The inclusion criteria differ between the various clinical trials, including the cut-off levels of PD-L1 expression on tumor cells, and the tumor histology (squamous or non-squamous). Patients with tumor expression levels of PD-L1 ≥ 50% are candidates for treatment with single agent Pembrolizumab or Atezolizumab. Patients with PD-L1 < 50% are candidates for immunotherapy with pembrolizumab as a single agent if PL-1 > 1%; immunotherapy doublet, Nivolumab and Ipilimumab, or single agent immunotherapy combined with chemotherapy. Here we review phase 3 clinical trials utilizing immunotherapy in the first line for treatment of NSCLC, including Pembrolizumab in KEYNOTE-024, KEYNOTE-042, KEYNOTE-189 and KEYNOTE-407; Nivolumab and Ipilimumab in CHECKMATE-227 and CHECKMATE 9LA; and Atezolizumab in IMpower110, IMpower130 and IMpower150.
Keywords: CTLA-4; chemotherapy; immune checkpoints inhibitors; lung cancer; monoclonal recombinant antibodies; programmed death receptor.