NAVIGATING LUNG CANCER
Immunotherapy This is a new therapy in NSCLC using drugs that make the immune system stronger . This helps your body fight its cancer . This treatment is used with stage IV cancer . Immunotherapy is a type of biological therapy . It enhances the body ’ s immune response and stop lung cancers from escaping the immune system . It doesn ’ t target cancer cells directly . Instead it trains your immune system to recognize cancer cells , and selectively target and kill them .
Immunotherapies can do this in two ways :
• by enabling the immune system to mount or maintain a response ,
• or by suppressing factors that prevent the immune response .
There are many different types of immunotherapy . Three main types are currently being studied in people with NSCLC :
• immune checkpoint inhibitors
• therapeutic cancer vaccines
• adoptive T-Cell transfer
Immune checkpoint inhibitors have made the most progress . The first FDA-approved immunotherapy drugs for lung cancer are in this group . Immunotherapy is also being studied in SCLC .
There are three FDA-approved immunotherapy drugs for metastatic NSCLC .
• Nivolumab ( Opdivo ®)
• Pembrolizumab ( Keytruda ®)
• Atezolizumab ( Tecentriq ®)
The choice of immunotherapy drug depends on :
• the line of therapy
• the presence or absence of an EGFR / ALK / ROS1 alteration
• the proportion of cancer cells that stain positive for the PD-L1 protein
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