Immunotherapy for metastatic gastric cancer

Abstract

This editorial discusses the article written by Chen et al that was published in the latest edition of the World Journal of Gastrointestinal Surgery. The current study found that programmed cell death 1 ligand 1 (PD-L1) expression is considered as one of the pan-cancer biomarkers of immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICIs) treatment response. Four molecular subtypes are widely used to guide and evaluate the prognosis and diagnosis and treatment of gastric cancer (GC) patients. Clinical trials of ICI treatment including Nivolumab, Pembrolizumab, Avelumab have been conducted for metastatic GC (mGC). The effects of various single agent ICIs on mGC therapy varied. ICIs combined with chemotherapy can indeed bring survival benefits to patients with mGC. Combining ICIs with chemotherapy can give more patients the chance of surgery in the treatment of GC transformation. However, not all PD-L1 positive patients can benefit from it. It is urgent to find better biomarkers to predict the response of ICIs for more precise clinical treatment.

Keywords: Immunotherapy; Metastatic; Gastric cancer; Combined therapy; Programmed cell death 1 ligand 1

Core Tip: The efficacy of different single agent immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICIs) in metastatic gastric cancer (mGC) treatment varies. ICIs combined with chemotherapy can indeed bring survival benefits to patients with mGC. In the future study, more biomarkers should be explored to clinically evaluate the response of ICI treatment to mGC treatment.