Refining PD-1/PD-L1 assessment for biomarker-guided immunotherapy: A review

Abstract

Anti-programmed cell death ligand 1 (PD-L1) immunotherapy is increasingly crucial in cancer treatment. To date, the Federal Drug Administration has approved four PD-L1 immunohistochemistry (IHC) staining protocols, commercially available in the form of “kits,” facilitating testing for PD-L1 expression. These kits comprise four PD-L1 antibodies on two separate IHC platforms, each utilizing distinct, non-interchangeable scoring systems. Several factors, including tumor heterogeneity and the size of the tissue specimens assessed, can lead to PD-L1 status misclassification, potentially hindering the initiation of therapy. Therefore, the development of more accurate predictive biomarkers to distinguish between responders and non-responders prior to anti-PD-1/PD-L1 therapy warrants further research. Achieving this goal necessitates refining sampling criteria, enhancing current methods of PD-L1 detection, and deepening our understanding of the impact of additional biomarkers. In this article, we review potential solutions to improve the predictive accuracy of PD-L1 assessment in order to more precisely anticipate patients’ responses to anti-PD-1/PD-L1 therapy, monitor disease progression, and predict clinical outcomes.