Lung cancer is the leading cause of cancer-related deaths worldwide. Although improvement has been achieved in platinum-based chemotherapy and tyrosine kinase inhibitors-based molecular targeted therapy, they still have limitations. Immunotherapy has recently emerged as a very effective new treatment, and there is now growing enthusiasm in cancer immunotherapy worldwide. We summarized the effects of immune checkpoint inhibitors in clinical trials, and the current status and progress of anti programmed death-1 (PD-1)/programmed death-ligand 1 (PD-L1) agents in lung cancer treatment. Attention has been paid to finding out the factors which influence the therapeutic effect of anti-PD-1/PD-L1 therapy and reducing the occurrence of adverse events.
It is very limited that the benefit of perioperative chemotherapy in early non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC), and the 5-year survival rate is only 5% higher than surgery. Antibodies that block programmed cell death protein 1/programmed death-ligand 1 significantly improve the survival of advanced NSCLC. The value of immunotherapy in early NSCLC is also being explored. This paper firstly summarized and analyzed the progress of immunotherapy in the perioperative period of NSCLC. Secondly, the safety and feasibility of surgical resection after neoadjuvant immunotherapy were discussed. Finally, the clinical value of different therapeutic efficacy prediction indicators was summarized, in order to clarify the current status of immunotherapy in the perioperative period, so as to improve the clinical benefits of early NSCLC patients.