A Review About Pembrolizumab in First-Line Treatment of Advanced NSCLC: Focus on KEYNOTE Studies

Abstract

Jialin Qu *, Li Wang *, Man Jiang, Deze Zhao, Yuyang Wang, Feng Zhang, Jing Li, Xiaochun Zhang Department of Medical Oncology, The Affiliated Hospital of Qingdao University, Qingdao University, Qingdao 266003, People’s Republic of China*These authors contributed equally to this workCorrespondence: Xiaochun Zhang Department of Medical OncologyThe Affiliated Hospital of Qingdao University, Qingdao University, 16 Jiangsu Road, Qingdao 266003, People’s Republic of ChinaTel/ Fax [phone]Email [email protected]:  Lung cancer is currently the malignant tumor with the highest incidence and mortality in the world, while non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) is the most common pathological type of lung caner. In the past few decades, the only treatment options available for advanced NSCLC patients have been targeted therapy or chemotherapy, but these therapies are inevitably tolerated by tumors.  The discovery of immune checkpints that mediate the immune escape of tumor cells have been promoting a series of immune checkpoint inhibitors to be used in cancer treatment and achieved great results. Among them, pembrolizumab is currently the only PD-1 inhibitor approved for first-line treatment of NSCLC, whether it is monotherapy or combination therapy, for creditable performance in KEYNOTE studies. In this review, we systematically integrate the latest series of clinical trial results, pharmacological mechanisms, adverse events (AEs) and predictive biomarkers in the first-line treatment of NSCLC. We hope pembrolizumab could become a better choice for more clinicians and benefit more patients with advanced NSCLC.Keywords: pembrolizumab, PD-1/PD-L1, KEYNOTE studies, first-line treatment, non-small cell lung cancer, NSCLC

Keywords

• pembrolizumab
• pd-1 / pd-l1
• keynote studies
• first-line treatment
• nsclc