Programmed death receptor-1/programmed death-ligand 1 inhibitors: Clinical progress and biomarker exploration in gastric cancer
Jin Shi,
Xudong Song,
Zihao Gao,
Dezhu Dai,
Fan Ding,
Xu Wu,
Wufei Dai,
Guoquan Tao
Affiliations
Jin Shi
Department of Pediatric Surgery, University Children's Hospital Basel, 4031, Basel, Switzerland; Department of Clinical Research, University of Basel, 4031, Basel, Switzerland
Xudong Song
Department of Gastrointestinal Surgery, The Affiliated Huaian No. 1 People's Hospital of Nanjing Medical University, Huai'an, Jiangsu, 223300, China
Zihao Gao
Department of Gastrointestinal Surgery, The Affiliated Huaian No. 1 People's Hospital of Nanjing Medical University, Huai'an, Jiangsu, 223300, China
Dezhu Dai
Department of Gastrointestinal Surgery, The Affiliated Huaian No. 1 People's Hospital of Nanjing Medical University, Huai'an, Jiangsu, 223300, China
Fan Ding
Department of Gastrointestinal Surgery, The Affiliated Huaian No. 1 People's Hospital of Nanjing Medical University, Huai'an, Jiangsu, 223300, China
Xu Wu
Department of Vascular, Huaian Hospital Affiliated to Xuzhou Medical University, Huai'an, Jiangsu, 223300, China
Wufei Dai
Department of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery, Shanghai Ninth People’s Hospital, Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine, Shanghai 200011, China; Corresponding author.
Guoquan Tao
Department of Gastrointestinal Surgery, The Affiliated Huaian No. 1 People's Hospital of Nanjing Medical University, Huai'an, Jiangsu, 223300, China; Corresponding author.
Gastric cancer is one of the most common malignant tumours, with limited treatment options and poor prognosis in its advanced stages. In recent years, breakthroughs in tumour immunotherapy have led to immune checkpoint inhibitors becoming a new class of clinical oncology drugs. Programmed death receptor-1 (PD-1) and programmed death-ligand 1 (PD-L1) play significant roles in inhibiting T cell responses and tumour immune escape. PD-1/PD-L1 inhibitors can significantly improve the prognosis of patients with advanced gastric cancer. Moreover, the combination of administering PD-1/PD-L1 inhibitors along with chemotherapy, radiotherapy, targeted therapy, and other immunotherapies may further enhance therapeutic efficacy. However, some scientific issues need to be urgently resolved in the immunotherapy of gastric cancer, including the suboptimal efficacy of PD-1/PD-L1 inhibitor monotherapy, high incidence of immune-related adverse events, and the absence of definitive biomarkers for effectively screening treatment-sensitive populations. This article reviews the mechanism of action, therapeutic advances, adverse effects, and putative predictive biomarkers of PD-1/PD-L1 inhibitors in the treatment of advanced gastric cancer.
