Immune Microenvironment and its Therapeutic Implication in Non-Small Cell Lung Carcinoma: Literature Review

Due to the genetic and epigenetic alterations, cancer cells may express antigens that can trigger host immune responses. T cells play a major role in the host immune response, which is initiated via antigen recognition by T cell receptors and regulated by a dynamic balance between co-stimulatory and inhibitory signals, also known as immune checkpoints. While immune checkpoints are crucial for the prevention of autoimmunity by maintaining self-tolerance, tumor cells can exploit these pathways to forge a suppressive immune microenvironment for preventing tumor cell destruction. Recently, several immune checkpoint modulators have been tested for treating non-small cell lung carcinomas and some of them offered very promising results. More studies are needed in the area of biomarker testing for selecting the patients who will respond to these immunotherapeutic agents.