2025/06/14 by Saheed E. Sanyaolu, Maryam O. Adebayo, Oluwaseun O. Adekoya +2 · 1 voice
Medicine · #Cancer Immunotherapy and Biomarkers #Lung Cancer Research Studies #Peptidase Inhibition and Analysis
paper · doi:10.70389/pjs.100084
openalex publication_date 2025/06/14 · openalex created_date 2025/06/21 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/15
Lung cancer is a deadly clinical condition that necessitates critical clinical intervention for its management. This comprehensive review summarizes findings from clinical trials that assessed the efficacy and safety of immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICIs) for the management of lung cancer. Scientific databases were explored for reports from clinical trials on ICI roles in lung cancer management. Small cell lung cancer mostly develops from chronic smoking, and it is refractory to treatment, resulting in complications and death. On the other hand, many treatment modalities are available for non-small-cell lung cancer, including surgery, radiotherapy, and systemic therapy. ICIs, classified into programmed death-1, programmed death ligand 1 (PD-L1), and cytotoxic T-lymphocyte antigen 4 inhibitors, are used either alone or in combination with other targeted therapies or chemotherapy perioperatively to improve surgical outcomes for resectable lung cancer. Additionally, ICIs are also used in advanced unresectable metastatic lung cancer to reduce tumor growth or as palliative treatment to prolong survival and improve patients’ quality of life. ICI monotherapy, compared to placebo and platinum-based chemotherapy, elicited positive clinical outcomes in patients with lung cancer, resulting in longer overall survival and progression-free survival with tolerable side effect profiles. Similarly, combination therapy comprising ICIs alongside tyrosine kinase inhibitors, platinum-based chemotherapy, or radiotherapy resulted in superior efficacy compared to drug combinations without ICIs but with higher incidences of adverse events. Notably, higher tumor expression of PD-L1 improved clinical response to ICIs.